Broken Fang
by Nightengale4698
Summary: My first attempt at a fanfic. I hope you enjoy it. The first chapter is short and if people like it, I'll write more, longer chapters.
1. Chapter 1

I am sitting on the floor of some gods' forsaken warehouse on the docks of Vale, stripped of my weapons, tied up like some wayward dog that got too close to somebody's family, which isn't that far of a stretch, seeing as I had inadvertently attacked some young girl wielding one of the largest scythes I've ever seen, thinking that she was trying to help my target escape. In my haste to capture him, the man I had been stalking for weeks now, in hopes that he would lead me to my true target, I made the biggest rookie mistake one can make…I didn't check for her team mates. As I was battling the little red haired girl, I was blindsided by some white haired fencer with a scar over her left eye, as well as a black haired Faunus (why she thought that ribbon was fooling anyone, I'll never guess) and the large blond that snuck up behind me and clocked me but good.

Yes, that blond… She was easily six years my junior, but she carried herself with the kind of blatant arrogance and self-assurance you rarely saw outside somebody who won too many easy victories. Her gauntlets were put away at the moment, as she was checking on the youngest girl of the group, her violet eyes filled with unmasked worry.

"Ruby," she said to the little girl, "you ok sis?!" As the girl she called Ruby sat up, quickly assuring her older sister she was perfectly fine, she fixed me with a look of pure anger and hatred, those eyes of bright violet turning a burning crimson, and I would swear I saw her hair damn near ignite as she made her way over to me, clearly intent to hurt me in very unique and creative ways.

"Yang, wait!" Ruby yelled. "He wasn't trying to hurt me, honest! He was going after Torchtwick and accidently hit me when I scared him off." The little girl grabbed the older woman's arm, completely unworried of her sister's rage. "He was trying to see if I was ok when you guy's jumped him, not finish me off. He could've easily finished me off before you stopped him if he wanted to."

Who were these girls? My second set of wolf's ears twitched in interest as my tail swished thoughtfully on the floor. While the sisters were arguing about whether or not they should kick my ass anyway, I decided to get my bearings. The Faunus was standing to my right, leaning against a beam, seemingly uninterested in the current situation, but I couldn't help but notice that her swords never left her hands and her eyes never let me out of her sight for more than a heartbeat. Interesting, almost like she was familiar with dealing with potentially dangerous hostages. I'd decided to store that bit of info for later. I moved my attention to the white haired girl.

After I got a good look at her, I realized that she was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and master of the blade she held at her side, a mask of stern regard pointed at me, but anyone with some observation skills would've picked up on the glances she kept stealing at Ruby, obvious worry dancing in her eyes, if only for the briefest of moments before the mask of cold scorn was returned to me.

As I looked back towards the sisters, I saw that the older of the two was walking towards me, obvious looks of hatred and death radiating from her. As she advanced towards me, her sister jumped down from her back (apparently she thought she could slow her with her weight alone) and stepped between myself and Yang.

"Ruby, move out of the way." Yang said to the little girl. "I'm going to find out who this guy is and what he wants." Ruby didn't move an inch and said, "How about we actually try asking him instead of pummeling him into a pulp and hope he can still talk?" She turns to me, smiles and says, "Hi, my name is Ruby and this is my team, Yang Weiss and Blake. What's your name?"

I stared at her, and then looked around at the group again, amazed that I was overpowered by such little girls. Then couldn't have been more than seventeen years old, yet they took me down rather easily. The fact that I was outnumbered and blindsided was irrelevant, if I had been paying attention they wouldn't have even gotten close to me. I was sloppy, undisciplined and stupid. But they did offer me a chance to explain myself, so maybe it was best not to waste this opportunity.

"My name is Grun. I have been following Torchtwick for quite some time, trying to see if he would lead me to somebody I believe him to be working with." The group looked at me, waiting for me to continue, so I obliged. "I am sorry that I hurt you, young lady. When I saw you talking to him, I thought you were warning him about me, so I tried to capture him before he could get away. I wasn't aiming for you when I struck; the recoil simply launched me at you when he deflected my attack."

Weiss stepped forward, standing between Ruby and myself. Disdain colored her voice as she asked, "What reason do we have to believe that you are really no threat to us and not just one of Torchtwick's lackeys who was protecting his boss and is now trying to save his own skin?" Hmmm, it seems that the rumors I'd heard about the young Schnee's sharp mind were not too far off the mark. It was a fair question, and I was a little impressed that someone so young would think to ask it.

"Well Ms. Schnee, that is a very good question, one to which I might not have a very satisfactory answer. I do have a piece of proof that Torchtwick is an enemy to me, but it might not necessarily endear me to your group as an ally. If you could open my shirt and expose my left shoulder, it will show you I'm being honest."

Weiss was taken aback that I knew who she was, but it only lasted a moment. She stepped towards me and reached for my shirt front. But before she could grab it, Blake stepped forward and simply ripped my sleeve off of me, so that they weren't too close to me where I could attack one of them. There was suspicion in her eyes, as well as a glimmer of recognition, almost like there was a face she was trying to place, just slipping through her grasp. This Faunus was extremely cautious as well as observant, almost like something I'd once seen. As the sleeve fell to reveal the large banner tattooed over most of my upper left arm, from shoulder to elbow, showing the blue background with a simple white wolf head in a white circle, I said to her "You used to be in the white fang under Adam, didn't you?"

The group stepped back away from me, ready for anything. Anything except for Blake kneeling before me, tears in her eyes, wrapping her arms around my neck. She was weeping openly, great racking sobs shaking her whole body. It took me back for a moment, long enough for her to then rear back and slap me hard across the face, enough that I tasted blood in my mouth.

"You left us, Master Grun. You left us when we needed you most." She stood before me, accusations and anger radiating off of her stronger than any Aura. Her teammates stared at her, dumfounded at her sudden show of emotion. Yang stepped forward and grabbed her arm, worry plain on her face.

"Blake, what is going on with you?! Who is this guy?" Blake physically had to restrain herself, taking a step back and addressing her team. "Guys, this is Grun Abscheulichkeit, former leader of the White Fang, mentor to Adam, and the man who saved me when my family was killed."

The rest of the group stared at me, shocked to find out that they had actually captured one of the most infamous group leaders this side of Vale, and that he was now their hostage. Yang and Ruby started talking to each other, snippets of phrases like "huge reward" and "famous for life" passing between themselves.

But Blake kept her eyes on me, waiting for me to speak. Her golden eyes pierced into me, imploring me to give her some explanation, for me to say something to make the betrayal make sense. I looked back, shame filling my head and keeping me from speaking. Luckily Weiss interrupted the silence, breaking me from my stupor.

"Wait a minute, how can this guy be the former leader of the White Fang? He doesn't even look ten years older than any of us. Shouldn't he be, I don't know, a lot older since he stepped down from the White Fang?"

This sparked a fire in my heart and made me pull and my restraints, though my lack of leverage made it rather pointless. But I glared at Weiss nonetheless, anger in my eyes. "Is that what Adam has told everybody?! That I stepped down from my position?" I was near screaming at her, the hair on my ears and tail standing on end.

Blake stood between Weiss and myself, her weapon at the ready. "Are you saying that Adam was lying about you abandoning us?" She looked disbelieving, but I could see a small spark of hope flickering in her eyes. I sat back down, calming myself and cooling my head. A long, tired sigh escaped my lips.

"To answer your question, young lady, I was only fifteen when I first started the White Fang." I chuckled wryly, remembering those first few years, just a couple of kids trying to make a difference in a world of politics we didn't begin to understand. "We started out as just a couple of outspoken youths hoping that if we shouted long enough and loud enough we would make a difference. "

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't want to bore them with my life story when they obviously wanted to get out of the cold, so I suggested we went somewhere else. As the girls moved to leave the warehouse, I politely cleared my throat and motioned towards the bonds still securing me to the spot. "I would love to join you all, if you could just untie me, we can be on our way."

Blake started to move towards me to release me, but Yang stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Wait Blake," she said, "I'm still not entirely convinced we can trust this guy. Sure he's your old leader, but who knows how he may have changed since you last saw him. He could attack all of us as soon as we let him go."

I could tell that Blake wanted to argue with her, but I could also see a hint of doubt in her eyes. And in all honesty, I didn't blame either of them. So I said, "Miss Yang, I can appreciate your distrust of me and I don't blame you for wanting to keep me restrained. However we cannot leave with me still tied up. So how about we compromise? Simply release my legs, leave my arms bound and use the rest of the rope to make a lead you can hold onto as we walk? Does that sound fair to you?"

Yang didn't seem all that thrilled about unbinding any part of me, but I could tell she understood the need. So she did as I suggested, releasing my legs then using what was left to attach her hand to my wrists with a long lead. As an afterthought she used another length of rope to make a slipknot that she looped over my head and settled it around my neck. I raised an eyebrow at her as she stared down at me.

"A choker lead?" I said, "Really? I'm not a dog you know." I started to stand up, moving slowly so that I didn't pull any muscles after being restrained for so long. When I finished getting up, I stood nearly half a head taller than the girl holding onto my leash. She stared up at me, completely unimpressed with the height difference between us.

She pulled on my ropes, getting me to walk towards the door. "So," Ruby said, "should we head back to Beacon? If we hurry, we might make the airship before it leaves." She looked at her teammates, waiting to see what they said.

Blake chimed in with, "It might not be the best idea to show up to school with our friend here tied up." She was walking over to join us after picking up my weapons, Saphir Blitz and Diamant Macht. She was inspecting them, trying to make sense of the two simple cylinders of deep blue and pure white. She turned them this was and that, not being able to see any buttons or switches that made them change shapes. She looked at me to see if I would explain, but I simply smiled, amused at her curiosity but not revealing anything.

"I have an apartment not far from here, if you girls are ok with that." I waited for them to talk it over, until they finally decided it was ok. Of course Yang had to throw in a "If I catch a whiff of anything sneaky I'm blasting you to kingdom come, got it?" I gave a quick nod, smiling slightly while I started off towards the nearby tavern, thinking to myself along the way. "This girl has a fire in her," I thought to myself. "I haven't seen this kind of spirit since…." I let that thought trail off, not wanting to think back on such sad times right now.

We walked up to the "Tavern on the Dock" (original name, huh?) and stopped to explain. "This isn't the most refined place in Vale, but the people in here are good people, if a bit loud and rude. Just stick with me and we get up to my place." The girls looked a little doubtful, but they all nodded and followed me through the door.

The first thing most non-regulars complain about when they first walk in is the noise inside. While I'll admit, it's not the quietest place on the best days, what with the ongoing chorus of drunken sailors singing of maidens pure (and not so pure) and the occasional fist fight breaking out, it really wasn't that bad a place. I actually thought it was quite cozy and quaint, the kinda place you could easy blend in, even with prominent Faunus features.

The only complaint I had was the smell. With my wolf sense of smell, every smell was ten times worse than it would be for a human. I didn't just smell all of the blood, vomit, beer, and gods know what else. I could smell every drop of sweat, I could tell you how long the mystery stains had been there and every single ingredient that made said stain. Most nights I could handle the smell, but some poor fool had passed out in the bathroom doorway again, which added all of those great scents to this lovely bouquet.

The owner, and only bartender, Bull looked up to see who walked in. Moose was a Faunus as well, though he was part moose. He was easily seven feet tall and damn near as wide. He easily spotted me over the heads of the other patrons, and seeing that I was accompanied by four young girls, one of whom had me in restraints, he smiled and motioned me to the bar.

I smiled back and started to him, the girls in tow. As I got to the bar, he walked over to me, leaned close to be heard over the ruckus, and said, "What the bloody hell happened to you lad?" Bull was a good hearted guy, but subtlety was never his strong suit. You learned to take what he said with a grain of salt, since he always meant well and honestly cared about his patrons' well-being.

"Well Bull," I said, "I was following up on a lead on Adam, but I messed up and tangled with the wrong group of girls. I promised them an explanation, so we're heading up to my room. Can you make sure that we don't have some drunken guest stumble in on us?"

Bull scratched his jaw, thinking it over. He finally grunted and nodded to me. "Sure Grun, but don't keep them here too late. It is a school night, after all." He winked at the four girls, who weren't sure how to take this exchange.

I rolled my eyes and started for the stairs. "Thanks _Dad_!" I hollered over my shoulder. As I was just about to head up the stairs, one energetic drunk hollered at me, "What's this Grun?! One girl not enough to satisfy you anymore? Gotta take four little honeys up there with you to get the job done these days? Seems selfish of you! Why not share the wealth, friend?"

The four girls all blushed fiercely and looked extremely nervous, but I just laughed and said, "Blow it out your ass, Friedrich. You couldn't handle one of these lasses when you were sober, not to mention too drunk to notice that Markus is cheating you out of your winnings tonight." The man turned back to his friend, confused and angry, as Markus tried to explain that I was lying.

The men being thoroughly distracted, I made my way up to my room with the girls close behind. I couldn't help but notice that Blake stuck close to Yang, while Ruby was actually holding onto Weiss's sleeve. Weiss tried to hold onto a face of flippancy, but I could see the shadow of a smile cross her mouth every now and then. I mentally shrugged at the info, "Who am I to judge what makes them happy?" I thought to myself.

As we got to my door, I simply pushed it open and walked in. When the last one entered, I asked them to close the door and lock it. The room wasn't the largest, but it wasn't meant for so many people to begin with. The girls sat on my bed, all four crammed together as I sat in the only chair. After everyone was settled in I started by asking, "Can I get these ropes off now, please?" The girls looked at each other and nodded. As Yang rose to untie me I said, "Don't worry, I got it." I finished sawing through that last strand that held the rope to my wrists. As they fell to the floor, I reached up and took the loop from my neck. As they all stared at me, not sure how to react, I reached up and started scratching the end of my nose.

"Oh thank the gods, I've been itching since you guys tied me up!" When I finished scratching, I looked at them, a smile on my face. "What?" I said innocently. "Blake, did you really think I couldn't work loose from a couple of bonds? I was leader of a rebel group who evaded escape, remember?"

Yang was the first to speak. "If you could've gotten out whenever you wanted, why did you wait until we got here?" I looked at her steadily and said, "Because I said that I wouldn't try to escape until I explained what happened. I wasn't going to break my word to you guys."

The four of them looked at me like they couldn't believe what I had said, but I just shrugged and walked towards the bathroom. "Hey wait!" Blake said, "What happened to explaining everything?"

I turned back and said, "Well I just wanted to go and put a new shirt on, since you guys pretty well destroyed the one I'm wearing now." I spread my arms and showed the rips, tears, and rather sizable burns covering my shirt.

She looked embarrassed and said "Oh, I'm sorry, we'll pay for a new shirt, if you want." Her honesty and chagrin took me by surprise, but I said, "No don't worry about it, child. I never wear anything I can't easily replace anyway, so it's no big deal." I headed into the bathroom and, after making sure that the bathroom door was closed took off my ruined shirt.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, seeing the network of old scars crisscrossing my chest and arms, each level of scar tissue stretched and thinned from years of work, exercise and battle. I reached up to the chain that hung down below my throat, running my fingers across the two bright rings hanging from it. "Arianna," I quietly whispered to myself, closing my eyes to hold back my tears.

"If you stay in here much longer, they're going to think you jumped out the window, mate." I opened my eyes and looked into the mirror, seeing two men and a woman standing behind me. I turned around, to see nobody in the bathroom but me. I looked back into the mirror and saw them all standing there, smiling smugly at me. I sighed heavily.

"You guys know I hate it when you just show up like that." I muttered to myself. I kept my eyes fixed on the mirror, looking at each of my old teammates in turn. The two men, brothers, were named Blitz and Macht. The woman was Blitz's wife, Leere. "Is a little bit of warning so much to ask for?"

"Well what do you suggest we do? Give a light knock on your noggin?" The taller man was leaning shoulder to shoulder with his brother, the first one to talk when they showed up. He leaned forward and rapped a knuckle against the mirror, though it made no noise. "Oh right, we can't because we're only in here." His reflection reached back and tapped my head, though I didn't feel a thing.

"Besides," the little brother said, "If we just announced we were here all the time, people would start thinking you were talking to yourself. …Well I guess really you are, but they would think that it made you crazy or something." He finished the last statement with a smile.

I slowly shook my head and looked to the woman of the group. "Can't you keep these guys under control?" I asked her. "You spend more time with them than I do." She simply smiled and shook her head. I groaned and said, "Look, what do you guys want? Kinda busy here."

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't lose yourself to your thoughts when you have guests out there. Female guests, at that." Macht looked at me with a big goofy grin plastered on his face. "About time you put yourself back on the market, mate. We've been worried about you."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Ok, first off, Frickin' EWW, dude! My relationship status is none of your all's business. Secondly, those GIRLS out there are young enough to be my daughters."

Leere finally decided to pipe in. "That is utter nonsense, Grun, and you know it. You're barely old enough to be their big brother at the oldest. But that is beside the point. Why did you bring them back here? You could have easily gotten free and gotten away from them."

"Yes," I replied, "but we both know that I would've hurt them in the process. I'm not out for unnecessary bloodshed, Leere. I'm trying to make something right. And those girls were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They don't deserve to be hurt just because they got near me. That's happened to too many people already." I stared at my team mates, pain and regret seeping into my eyes.

"Ah cut that out, Grun," Blitz said, while he put a hand on my reflection's shoulder. "You know we don't blame you for what happened, and we have no regrets because we still got to stay with you, keep Team GMBL together. Plus, it's always nice knowing that we're cheating hotels out of three charges just because we're in here." He put his hand on my head.

I chuckled at this. Leave it to Blitz to find the humor in the fact that they no longer had their own bodies. The only thing keeping this in this world after these three long years was their Aura circulating through my soul. This was my Semblance, and my curse. I have the ability to absorb another person's Aura and store their abilities, to use whenever I wished. But in extreme cases, I had inadvertently discovered, I could take more. In a desperate attempt to keep my friends with me, I absorbed their Aura's in their entirety, the abilities, their memories, their souls. Now I shared my mind with three others, my closest friends, my brothers and sister in arms, my family.

Nobody knew this about me, mostly because I tried to keep to myself. The only clues that ever gave away that they were there was that my eyes would change from their normal dark hazel green to and odd, almost pinwheel looking thing, a mixture of all four colors of my and my teammates eyes. The only other thing someone might notice is that every now and then my normally emerald colored Aura might have a flicker of blue, white, or yellow shoot through it, if only briefly.

"Look," I said. "I just want go out there, explain what happened, and get them out of here. Then I will never see them again. I gave them my word to Blake that I would at least explain why I abandoned the White Fang. Seeing as I'm the person who brought her into it in the first place, I owe her that much at least. So please guys, just let me get this over with then we can move on, ok?"

The three looked at each other, sighed together then nodded. As the three of them stepped back into my back and disappeared, leaving me alone in the bathroom. I sighed heavily; checking to make sure my eyes were back to normal, then I threw on my new shirt and headed back out to talk to the girls.

As I opened the door to step back out, I saw Yang holding up a picture she found on my dresser, looking at it closely, not noticing that I walked up behind her, reached over her shoulder and snatched up my photo. The photo was of four smiling family members, two small children, maybe five years old, a son and daughter with matching golden hair and dark wheat colored wolf ears. They also had matching mischievous grins, as they were also completely covered in mud. The wife was holding the two kids tightly around their wastes, trying to get her children dirtier than they were already. Her hair was a golden blond, so bright it was near blinding to look at. Her smile was full of nothing but mirth and love for her family.

The husband only had a single speck of mud on the tip of his nose. He was kneeling behind his wife and kids, holding the camera out before them to get the picture he desired. His face was painted with a poorly worn mask of annoyance at the mess, though the crinkle around his eyes and the gentle pulling of his lips betrayed the joy and love and happiness he tried to hide.

"I know that I invited you girls into my room," I said as I set the picture back onto the dresser, next to the only other picture I owned; a picture of a man and wife on their wedding day. "But I must please ask you not to mess with my photos. They are extremely important to me."

I looked at the second photograph. He was wearing a pure black tuxedo, his arms wrapped around his young bride, she was in a long flowing white gown, her arms wrapped around and under her swollen belly, both of them smiling and glowing with the knowledge that soon they would be graced with the children they so longed for.

The four girls looked ashamed and embarrassed. A long moment passed in silence before Blake spoke up. "We're sorry Grun. You were in there so long that we were getting worried. And Yang got bored, so she started looking for something to occupy herself with."

I sighed again and shook my head. "No it's fine girls. I shouldn't have left you alone for so long to begin with. It's my fault. Please girls, sit down and I will explain everything." I pulled up a chair and beckoned them to sit on the bed. I reached towards Blake, silently asking her to return my weapons. She hesitated for a moment, but finally returned them to me. I replaced them in my wrist sheathes, both cylinders setting seamlessly in their holsters. As my Aura surrounded them, I once again felt like myself. I sighed in relief and looked at the girls.

"Alright ladies," I said to them. "I suppose it's time I told you all what happened all those years ago."

~End of Chapter Two.


	3. Chapter 3

I looked at the four occupants in my room. I was about to tell them my story, the thing that has driven me these last three years. I wasn't sure what compelled me to so easily share with these girls, barely older than children, really. And yet here I was, about to tell them everything. What was I doing? But I just couldn't stop.

"In order for you girls to truly understand what I'm trying to do, I must start from the very beginning, when Adam and I were brothers. We thought were the only people who cared whether or not we existed. I was his elder by only a couple months, far as we could tell. We had been living on the street for so long, we couldn't remember the date, when we last had a decent meal…."

_**The scene switches to two young boys huddled in an alleyway, snow falling around them as they tried to stay warm. Their eyes were glazed over from hunger, their stomachs growling loudly, shivering violently.**_

The younger boy looked up to his brother. "Grun, I'm hungry. When are we going to get something to eat?" The boy's eyes were covered by his long shock of bright red hair. The horns on his head were barely discernable against his hair. You could only see them at first if you were actually looking at them. I looked down at the boy I thought of as my brother and smiled. I reached up and hooked my finger into his horn, giving it a light tug, partly to distract him from his hunger, and partly to fulfill my brotherly duty of aggravating him. I succeeded at both, as he gave me a sour look and blew a raspberry at me.

I chuckled and said, "It shouldn't be long now Adam. We'll find something to eat as soon as somebody throws something into the trash. Just take a nap and I'll wake you up when it's time to eat."

He looked at me earnestly, "You promise, Grun? I'm so hungry." As if to drive home his point, his stomach let out an extra loud growl. I laughed at this, as it caused Adam to blush. I reached over and tugged his horn again and said, "Yes, I promise little brother. Now get some sleep, you're going to need it." I wrapped my arm around him and held him, trying to share what little body heat I could with him.

Adam yawned and leaned against me and immediately started snoring. I looked at him, smiling, as I started to cry. "It won't be long now, brother. I don't think we are going to survive the night, so we at least won't be hungry anymore. The only gift I can give you is at least you won't have to be awake when the time comes. So sleep well, and hopefully I'll see you on the other side."

I leaned back against the wall, tremors starting to rack my body. "This is it," I thought out loud. As my vision started to fade, I vaguely felt a large blanket cover myself and Adam. My final thought before darkness took me was "Hmm, its warm. Dying isn't so bad."

I slowly opened my eyes, to find myself lying in a large, comfy bed. I raised my head slightly, looking around me. The room was large and ostentatious, with expensive carpets, lavish furniture, and a large fireplace, which currently was warming the room. As I took all this in, I thought to myself, "Is this heaven?"

I sat up to get a better look around. As I did, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I winced and looked down to see an IV running from the crook of my elbow up to a plastic bag hanging from a metal frame next to my bed. "Wait," I thought, "this isn't right. Heaven wouldn't need an IV to fix me, and I thought you didn't feel pain when you died."

Finally it dawned on me; I was still alive. Somehow, for some reason, I was still alive. But what about Adam?! The thought shook me from my shock, as I looked around the room again, searching for my brother. I couldn't see him. I was quickly panicking.

I ripped the IV from my arm, blood and other fluids now draining to the floor. As I tried to get out of the bed, I found that my legs were asleep. I stumbled and fell out of bed and onto the floor. I struggled my way back to my feet and made my way to the door. As I opened it and looked outside, I saw that I was in an extremely large house. I looked around and saw another door just to my right. I walked over to it and slowly opened it, seeing if Adam was in there.

What I saw didn't make sense at first. I saw Adam lying in bed, his hair brushed back from his eyes, which were still closed. He was sleeping peacefully, snoring lightly. The snoring didn't confuse me; he did that all the time. What confounded me was the man in the white coat that was standing over him, scribbling on a notepad after he took some strange thing out of his ears that lead to Adam's chest. When he turned towards the IV that led into my brother's arm, he pulled out a needle, filled with some dark liquid. He started to stick it into the IV and pushed the plunger.

I howled in rage at this man who was trying to poison my brother. I ran towards him and tackled him, shoving him away from Adam so he couldn't hurt him. Unfortunately, I was extremely tired and weak, so I barely got him away before he grabbed my shoulders and lifted me off of the ground. I was kicking and screaming, desperately trying to get to my brother. It took me moment to realize that the man wasn't hurting me, but was instead talking to me.

"Whoa, whoa there pup! I'm not trying to hurt you two, I swear! I was just giving the boy a mild antibiotic to help bring his fever down!" When I stopped struggling and looked at the man, I looked him over. He was a very large man; well over six feet tall and built like a weight lifter. But I could tell in the way he held me and walked that he wasn't some bruiser. No, this man was a gentle soul, one who cared for others. The scars on his arms spoke of someone who knew no fear when it came to protecting the ones he cared for. He had a short crop of light blond hair, cut short like a soldiers. But the most noticeable thing about this man was his eyes. They were a shade of blue that I had only seen from bright sapphires glittering in jewelry store windows.

As I finally calmed down I looked back to Adam. "Is my brother ok?" This question seemed to shock the man. That was understandable as I was easily six inches taller than the other boy, while his hair was unruly and bright red; mine was long and dark brown. Where I had my wolf ears and bushy tail, the only thing that betrayed Adam's Faunus roots were his horns, which were now hidden by his swept back hair. Though surprised, the man didn't comment on my claim.

"He's fine son, just a bit worn and dehydrated. The fever is from a lack of fluids and exposure. He should be fine by morning." The man set me back down on the floor once he saw that I wasn't going to put up a fight anymore. He smiled down at me and scratched the back of his head. "You're lucky that we found you when we did. You were about ten minutes away from returning to Dust, boy."

I looked up at him, my gaze unflinching as I asked him "Why?" This took the man aback. "W-what?" he stuttered. "Why did you save us? Why did you go out of your way to help us? We are nothing to you; we are nobodies, homeless vagrants, Faunus monsters. What possible reason could you have to help us?" I stared directly into the tall man's eyes, demanding answers from him.

The man looked back at me with a look of confusion, as if I had spoken to him in a foreign language. "Why? Because you were in need of help, boy. What other reason would I need to help you?"

This statement couldn't have shocked me more than if the man had slapped me across the face as he said it. All this time that Adam and I had been on our own, relying on each other and nobody else. And yet here was this man, this giant who saw two starving boys, Faunus no less, and didn't even think twice about bringing them into his home. The kindness this man showed us was astonishing, and the sincerity behind it struck me deeply. I started to cry, first trying to hold it in, then giving in and letting all the years on pain, hunger, desperation flow from me, each great racking sob seeming to shake loose some unseen weight from my shoulders.

The large man didn't know how to respond to this little boy sudden bout of tears. While he was trying to figure out what to do, we both heard a small voice from the bed, "What are you doing, making my brother cry? I'll kick your butt if you don't stop upsetting him." We both turned to see my brother sitting up, his hair back over his eyes, while the rest of his face showed I mixture of rage and fatigue, as if simply sitting up took all the energy he had left in his small frame.

"ADAM!" I shouted as I bound toward the bed, racing to embrace my brother, needing to make sure that he was really ok. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly. After he let loose a weak "Ooof," I released him and held him at arm's length, inspecting as much as him as I could see. Aside from being small and skinny, he seemed to be whole. I wrapped him into another tight hug.

I turned around to see the man standing a respectful distance away from us, a slight smile on his face. "Thank you," I said to this man. "Thank you for saving my brother." The man smiled wider and said, "It was no problem at all, son. But you should be thanking my daughter. She was the first one to see you, and if she hadn't have pointed you out we would have walked right by you."

After he said this, there came a quiet cough from the doorway. There stood a little sprite of a girl, couldn't be much older than I was. She was wearing a loose nightgown, orange and brown with frills around the bottom. Her hair was long and straight, reaching down nearly as far as her nightgown. It was a shade of the richest gold, as if it had been spun from the sun's rays at midday. But what most captivated me were her eyes. Her eyes were a deep shade of green. They were nearly the same shade as mine, only a little brighter. They were fixed directly on me, not a shred of fear or worry on her face as she looked at me.

The only look on her face was of open and unashamed curiosity as she took in this frail looking pair of Faunus. She walked straight over to me and looked me in the eyes. This young girl was fearless, and she didn't care who knew it. "Hi there, my name is Arianna. What were you two doing sitting in the snow like that? You guys could've gotten sick."

This sudden start of conversation stunned me. This girl whom I had never even seen before had walked straight up to me as if I were nothing at all to fear. I could've reached up and stroked her cheek, if I felt so inclined.

"Wait," I thought, "stroke her cheek? Where did that come from? I mean, it does sound kind of pleasant, but why would that be the first thing I thought?"

Unable to form a complete sentence at the moment, Adam intervened. "We weren't exactly there by choice. We didn't have anywhere to go, we're homeless. We don't have any family except for each other, and nobody to take us in."

The young girl looked at us both and started to cry. "Oh daddy," she said. "we can't send them away, back out in that. Can they stay here with us?" I could tell that her dad was conflicted, not wanting to turn these boys away when they needed help, but not also sure if they could be trusted. His worries were put to rest by a rather short woman entering the bedroom.

She was maybe five feet tall, if you were feeling generous. Her hair was a dark red, the hues of the sun's final rays just before nightfall. She wore a simple nightgown, similar to that of the young girl, in color and design. Her hair, though long, was done up in a simple bun, obviously in preparation for bed. As she looked at us, I saw that she had those some green eyes as the girl standing before me. "This must be her mother," I thought to myself.

"Darling," she said to her husband, "We can't just turn these boys away after saving them. We have a responsibility to make sure that they are cared for and looked after. They can stay here with us, Dust knows we have plenty of room to spare." She finished the statement with a smile, obviously knowing that her husband would agree to her.

Said husband sighed and shook his head. "As if I could ever refuse you two when you gang up on me like that." He smiled back at his wife and daughter, full of pride and love. He then turned back to Adam and myself, a serious look on his face. "Now boys, us talking about this is all well and good, but the most important thing is what YOU two want. Would you like to stay here with us, become a part of our family?"

I looked at my brother, who stared back at me. He was as shocked as I was. Could it be real? Could we really have a place to stay? Somewhere to belong? People who we could call family? I saw the same hope and longing in his eyes that I was sure were in mine. He gave a slow, small nod. I turned back towards the big man and said a single, quiet word.

"yes."

The man smiled broadly and motioned his family over. He stood there with them and looked at us. "This is my wife, Jeanne. You've already met my oldest daughter, Arianna. You can meet the rest of the family tomorrow morning. My name is Jack." He stuck out his hands to us to shake.

I gripped his hand with mine, while Adam took his other. "My name is Grun. This is my little brother, Adam."

"Well met boys! We'll let you get settled in and continue this talk in the morning. You two must be exhausted." He started ushering the two women out of the room. I looked at my brother, not wanting to leave him alone. Jack saw this and smiled. "You boys can share this room for now, if it makes you more comfortable." I smiled and guided Adam back to the bed. As he snuggled up against me, I covered us both with the large blanket. I was already starting to drift off when I heard a click and the light in the room went off. As the door closed I heard Jack whisper "Welcome to the Ark family, boys."

End of chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

_** Cut to a few years later, two boys watching a young girl climbing a tree on their property, the younger of the two cheering her on, while the elder was pleading for her to come down. **_

"Arianna," I shouted, "Come down here before you get hurt!" I was standing at the base of the tree, staring up at my friend with obvious worry on my face. "What are going to do if your mother and father see you up there?! They're going to have a fit!"

The girl in question looked back down at us, obviously enjoying making us worry as much as she enjoyed being in the tree. Her long golden hair was blowing in the wind, her bright emerald eyes glistening with laughter and mischief. She waved down at us, obviously unafraid of falling. This caused my stomach to flip like I had been tossed.

"IF YOU WANT ME TO COME DOWN," she hollered down at me, "I GUESS YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO COME UP HERE AND DRAG ME DOWN!" She then started to climb even higher into the tree. Adam watched the girl with open admiration at her bravery, cheering her as every step took her higher and higher. "Keep going Arianna! Grun's just afraid that you'll beat his record!"

I shot a glance at Adam and said, "This has nothing to do with that! She could get seriously hurt!" Adam looked at me and laughed. "Oh please, she's more coordinated than either of us. There is no chance that she could-" His sentence was cut short by a loud CRACK followed by a loud shriek of fear.

I looked up to see Arianna falling from the tree. My heart hammered into my chest. I yelled at Adam, "Semblance! NOW!" While he was building up the energy he needed, I started scaling the tree, leaping from limb to limb, desperately trying to get to my friend. When I was just two limbs beneath her, I jumped out from the tree, catching her in my arms and holding her tightly to me. I twisted myself so that my back was facing the oncoming ground, hoping to at least cushion the blow for Arianna.

As we were within feet of the ground, I felt warmth encompass myself and my friend. I looked around to see a semicircle of crimson below us, causing us to slow, just before we reached the ground. As my feet touched ground, I saw energy dancing around Adam, while he desperately tried to hold it so that we wouldn't get hurt. I set Arianna down and ran to his side, wrapping my arms around him. "Let it go brother!" As he released the kinetic energy that he took from our fall, I activated semblance, using my Aura to control the flow of it, directing it up and away from us, to keep us safe.

As the last of the energy left his body, he collapsed and fell against me, my arms being the only thing keeping him standing. After a moment, his eyelids fluttered open and smiled at me. Once he was awake again, I moved him over so that he was sitting next to our friend. They both looked up at me, fear on their faces as they knew what was about to happen. I was usually pretty even tempered, taking any teasing my friend or her siblings and brother threw at me. It was all in good fun and I was known to throw just as many jibes right back at them. I've tea partied with the youngest, let the middle ones braid my hair, and in one embarrassing event allowed them to dress up myself, Adam and their brother in dresses and make up. All of these things I didn't complain about, enjoying the feel of having a family.

But one of the few things that truly upset me was if somebody, themselves included, put anybody I cared about in harm's way. They had seen me cave in the hood of a car that had nearly run into Mr. and Mrs. Ark as were on a family outing. So to say that I was upset about my brother and best friend both putting themselves in harm's way was a severe understatement. I was PISSED.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY DUST WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!" I screamed at the two, causing them to flinch and turn away from me, shame plain on their faces. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW SERIOUSLY HURT YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN, ARIANNA?! I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT OF THAT TREE BEFORE YOU GOT HURT!" I turned to glare at Adam. "AND YOU! YOU WERE EGGING HER ON AFTER I TOLD HER TO STOP! YOU ARE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS AS SHE IS!"

The two flinched again and looked back at me. My face had turned a deep shade of scarlet, while my eyes were filled with tears. My body was shaking from the adrenaline leaving my system, and my knees gave out. I sank to the ground, crying uncontrollably and trying desperately to wipe my eyes clear. I felt the two others walk over to me and wrap their arms around me. They were crying as well, sniffling and apologizing profusely.

"We're so sorry Grun." They both were saying, "We should've listened to you. We were just having so much fun that we didn't want to stop. Please, don't cry anymore, we're all ok now." I finally looked at them and saw they were crying just as hard as I was. I wrapped my arms around them and held them tightly.

"I made a promise a long time ago that I would keep both of you safe. It's my duty as your brother and your friend to make sure nothing ever happens to you. Your parents would hate me, Arianna, and I'd never be able to forgive myself if I lost my little brother. Please, don't ever do anything like this again. I'm begging you."

"Ok Grun, we promise." They both answered in unison. We had finally calmed down and were about to go back to the house when we heard thundering footsteps coming our way. We looked towards the house and saw Mr. Ark quickly running towards us, a concerned look on his face.

"What happened out here?" He quickly asked us, "I could hear you shouting clear on the other side of the house!" He stood before us, barely breathing heavily despite having run from one side of the house to the other. He was staring at us, waiting for us to answer. I didn't answer right away, not wanting to get the other two into trouble. But before I could answer, Arianna stood up and said, "It was my fault, daddy. I was climbing the tree and Grun was trying to get me down before I got hurt. But I didn't listen and a branch broke and I fell. But Grun ran up the tree and caught me, and then Adam used his semblance to catch us both."

The elder Ark looked at the three teenagers, a looked of worry across on his face. "You know that you are not allowed to climb trees, Arianna. What were you doing up there?"

She looked down at her feet and said, "I just wanted to see what the estate looked like from up high. I didn't mean to fall like that." She was waiting for her father to yell at her, but when he didn't she looked up to see him smiling at her affectionately.

"Well normally I'd be upset at you, but it sounded like Grun here took care of that for me, and much more loudly than I would have." He laughed as he saw the blush crossing my face. "Grun, you are a great friend and brother to these two. Now come on you three. The party is just about to start."

"Party?" I asked. "Party for what exactly?" Arianna and her father both looked at me and smiled.

"Why it's your two's birthday, boys." Jack answered. "We could never figure out when it was, so we decided that your birthday should be the day that we found you two, when your life with all of us all started." This brought a smile to my face, while it brought tears to Adam's eyes. I thought back, "Has it really been three years? Three years since I was so close to walking through death's door? When my brother and I were saved by our new family?"

The four of us made our way back to the house. As we walked through the front door, the noise of the six other Ark children hit us. The twins were each holding onto their brother's legs, begging him to carry them. While the brother loudly protested, the obvious smile on his face betrayed his enjoyment of the game. The triplets were all dancing around their mother, who was working on frosting a pair of cakes, trying to scold her kids while she couldn't stop laughing. The girls would every now and then and rub her swollen belly, begging their mother to know when their new sister was going to be here.

"Any day now, girls, any day now," their mother said. "But we mustn't try to rush her; we want her to be completely healthy when she gets here." She rubbed the triplets' heads while she moved to put the youngest in her high chair. The three girls pouted at their mother and responded in unison, some strange quirk that I have yet to figure out if it was naturally occurring or if they actually practiced it when they were alone.

"But momma, we've been waiting for so long! We want her to be here so we can play with her!" This caused their mother to smile at them and kiss each of them on their foreheads. "I know my darlings, but me have to be patient. It'll be worth the wait, I promise." The girls were unsure about their mother's claim, but they ran off to start dancing around their brother, wanting to join in on the fun.

Mrs. Ark shook her head at her children's limitless energy, and then she turned and saw all of us at the door. She smiled gently and started heading our way. We walked towards her, Mr. Ark moving quickly to be at her side, taking her arm and helping her sit down in her chair, worry and love covering his face. "Honey, why are you moving around so much? You need to rest and let us take care of everything." He kneeled down and looked her in the eyes. She returned the look and frowned at her husband.

"Darling, I have been through four pregnancies already. I know what I can and can't do right now, better than you do in fact." She was beginning to get upset with her husband, who noticed this and tried to staunch her anger.

"I know this dear, I just worry about you. It's my right and privilege as your husband to worry about my lovely wife whenever I choose." He said this with a big smile on his face. His wife let out a loud exasperated sigh but smiled at her husband. She leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. This elicited cries of "EEEEWWW" and "GROSS!" from their young daughters.

Jack came up from the floor, roaring like a bear as he started to chase his young daughters around the living room, playfully swiping at them and saying, "What's gross about your mom and dad loving each other?" This caused Jeanne to start laughing quietly to herself. She returned her gaze back to us and smiled. "Hello boys, happy birthday to you two. Your cakes are just about done; just give me a few minutes to finish them up."

She slowly rose to her feet. Adam and I quickly went to her side to help her up, each of us taking hold of an arm so that she didn't strain herself. She quickly waved us away with a, "I'm fine boys; you don't need to worry about me. I'm just pregnant, not an invalid. You go sit down and get ready for lunch, ok? Oh, and could you please help Jaune wrangle the girls? Poor dear is near exhausted from trying to keep up with them."

I smiled at her and replied with, "Gladly. Come on Adam; let's go help get the girls together." Adam and I went in to help detangle Jaune from his five younger sisters. As I grabbed up the triplets in my arms, Adam worked on detangling the twins from the blond boy's legs. The girls started climbing onto our backs, crying "Rides! Rides!" Adam and I both smiled and complied, dropping onto all fours and letting out loud howls, each of us bouncing around and hopping with the girls on our backs. While they squealed and laughed, we made our way to the table and began the task of sitting each of the girls in their respective seats. Jaune came in to help us, an exhausted grin on his face.

"Thanks guys," he said to me and Adam. "Those girls have been on my legs half the morning. I don't know where they get all of this energy from." He sat down in the seat next to Adam's, leaning back and sighing. As Adam and I moved past him to take our seats, I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "It couldn't have anything to do with all that extra candy you sneak them from your secret stash when you think nobody is looking, could it?" I chuckled softly as the young boy blushed a bright scarlet and looked at his fingernails.

"This boy is way too honest for his own good," I thought to myself. "He wouldn't be able to hide something if his life depended on it. I sat down next to my brother, reaching over and tugging on his horn again. He shot me a dirty look and muttered, "When are you going to stop doing that?" I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes and muttered back, "As soon as you stop getting annoyed by it." I smiled at the glare he directed at me.

Arianna sat down next to me, though I couldn't help but notice that she scooted her chair just a little bit closer over to me. She smiled slightly to herself, almost like she felt like she accomplished something. "Weird, wonder what that's about." I thought to myself. "Maybe she's just a little shaky from her fall from the tree." I shrugged and didn't worry about it anymore.

Jack and Jeanne both brought in a large birthday cake. One had a big fifteen in candles on top of it. Its icing was a dark chocolate, with a large flat wolf head on top of it, its eyes a dark green. The other had a large fourteen. It was decorated scarlet, with a large charging bull. Adam and I both got very excited over seeing these. They set them in front of each of us and lit the candles. When Jack turned the lights off, the entire Ark family started singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs.

I turned and ruffled Adam's hair, and started singing along with the rest of them, enjoying this moment of family, of love. When the song ended, we both blew out our candles, making our wishes. I wasn't sure what my little brother asked for, but my wish was simple. "I hope that these days could go on forever." When the room went dark, the Ark's all cheered. Before the lights came back on, I felt something warm and soft press against my cheek, as well as warm breath next to my ear. I heard a soft voice whisper "Happy birthday Grun," just as the lights came back on. I looked over at Arianna, who was looking down at her hands, a small blush on her cheeks.

I was shocked at this development, wondering what brought this on. But before I could ponder this further, Adam had grabbed a small piece of cake and smearing it in my face. I turned back to him, cake still on my face. I wiped cake and icing from my face, smiled at my brother and smeared it in his hair. While he was trying to get it out, I grabbed my piece of chocolate cake and dumped it down the back of his shirt and slapped him hard on the back, splattering it all over.

Of course, not long afterwards, the entire table had been reduced to a large food fight, cake and snacks being tossed from one end to the other. Finally everybody had settled down, after much hollering from Mr. and Mrs. Ark to calm down, we started cleaning up the mess we had made. Adam and I set about scooping up all of the cake from the table and floor, while the girls set about picking up the plates and table ware. Jaune went to fetch the scrub brushes and a bucket to get the cake out of the carpet.

When Arianna walked by me, she reached out and wiped some icing off of my cheek, before popping it into her mouth to taste it. She smiled and blushed before running off to the kitchen with her sisters. I could hear them giggling in there. I looked to Adam to see if he could tell me what that was about. He looked at me with disbelief and…pity? I started to ask him what had him looking like that, but he just shook his head and grabbed a scrub brush from Jaune. Jaune looked at me, wondering what had Adam acting strange, but I just shrugged, not sure myself. We set about cleaning up the rest of the mess.

Later that night, we three boys were helping carry the young girls to their beds. After we had them all tucked in, Jaune went off to bed, his bunny feet dragging with fatigue. This left me, Adam, Mr. and Mrs. Ark, and Arianna standing in the hallway. Jeanne walked up to Adam and me and pulled us into a tight hug.

"Jack told me what you boys did today. You saved our little girl; you protected her from being hurt, even if it was by her own doings." When she looked back at her daughter, Arianna looked embarrassed and ashamed. She turned back and smiled and hugged us again. "Thank you."

I blushed and said, "It was no big deal, Mrs. Ark. We were just looking out for our friend." Jeanne fixed me with a stern look. "No Grun, how long are you going to keep that up? I told you when you first got here, that you can call me mom, just like all our other kids. You are our kids too, Grun and Adam."

I turned away from her. "I have no right to call you my mother, Mrs. Ark. We are guests in your house, barely more than a burden. Plus, we are Faunus. We'll never be seen as more than monsters to other people. It's better that we simply be pets, people you won't miss when we are eventually gone."

Before I could get another word out, Arianna stepped up to me, reached back and slapped me hard; hard enough to knock me on my backside. Her big green eyes were filled with tears as she yelled, "Grun, you idiot! You are not a monster, you are not our pets! You are our family. Everybody here loves you. I love you!" As she said this last part, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed a deep red. She took off running to her room and slammed her door shut.

I looked at her parents in confusion, wondering what had her so upset. I mean, of course I loved her too. She was my oldest friend, besides Adam, and we've always been together. The three of us were nigh inseparable, always getting into all kinds of mischief together. It was no secret that the three of us loved each other like family, but why was that something worth getting so worked up over?

Mr. and Mrs. Ark looked at each other with a smile on their faces, then shook their heads and stood together. "You boys should get on to bed. We'll all talk in the morning. Good night boys." They walked off to their room, leaving Adam and me alone. We walked off to our room. The Arks offered us each our own room, and we tried it for a while, but those years of having to huddle together to make it through the night had left us co-dependent. We had separate beds, bud we couldn't sleep without at least being in the same room.

As we were getting ready for bed, I saw Adam keep shooting me disbelieving looks, like I had done something incredibly stupid. Finally I got fed up and asked him, "What?!" He shook his head and said, "You really don't know?" "What are you talking about, little bro?"

Adam threw his arms into the air and groaned loudly. "Grun, I say this because I love you. You are one of the brightest guys I know, but when it comes to stuff like this, you are incredibly stupid." I looked at him, irritation easily showing on my face waiting for him to continue. He put his hand over his face and pushed his hair back off of his eyes, something I've noticed he only does when he is REALLY irritated.

"You really didn't realize that Arianna loves you?" I flicked my wolf ears and tilted my head, not quite sure what he meant. "Of course I know she loves me, Adam. I love her too. We've been friends for a long time now, we are always watching out for each other."

Adam stared me straight in the eyes, anger flashing across them. "No, you great idiot, I mean she 'LOVES YOU' loves you. As in, she wants to be with you, not as a friend, not as a sister, but as your girl. She wants to be your girlfriend, brother and you don't even realize it." He turned away from me in frustration, flopping onto his bed and covering his head with his blanket.

I stood there a moment, trying to absorb what Adam had just told me. Mechanically, I turned off the light to our room and walked back to my bed, relying on my night vision and my memory of the layout our room to get back to my bed. I laid down and told Adam goodnight. All I got in response was a rough grunt. I lay there, wondering about what Adam said. "Was he serious? Why would he think that Arianna had any kind of romantic feelings towards me? Sure, we're always joking around, tackling, pushing, shoving, hugging and stuff, but that was just stuff you did with your friends. There wasn't any romance behind that was there?" I couldn't make sense of what Adam was saying. I simply rolled over onto my side, deciding that I would ask Arianna about this tomorrow, just to prove Adam wrong.

~End of Chapter 4.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Return to present day with Team RWBY and Grun sitting in his small room.**_

I look at the four girls in my room. Each of them processing the story I'm telling them in different ways. Blake is completely engrossed in my tale, staring at me intently. Ruby was openly weeping, while Weiss sitting next to her was stone faced, but I could see her eyes were shiny and most, trying not to let her tears fall. Yang was trying to remain composed, but I saw a tear run down her cheek. I looked at my watch and saw how late it was.

"Wow," I said, "It's getting pretty late. Shouldn't you girls be getting back before curfew?" I looked down at my hands and saw a slight tremble in my fingers. "Oh no," I thought, "The shakes are going to start soon. I need to get them out of here quick." Yang was the first to respond, saying "But you haven't finished your story! Plus tomorrow's Saturday, we don't have classes anyway." I smiled at this and shook my head.

"But are you really comfortable explaining to your friends that you stayed overnight in a stranger's apartment while he 'only talked' to you four girls?" This brought a blush to several cheeks, though Yang only shrugged at the thought. "It's not like our friends would ever think we'd do something like that to begin with." Hmm, I thought, I can't tell if she really trusts her friends, is extremely flippant about this stuff, or just didn't give a damn if people thought she had questionable morals. But Ruby was the voice of reason on this one.

"He's right Yang," she said to her sister. "We should get back before it's too late. Plus we can tell Jaune that we met his friend! He'll be so excited!" This caused my stomach to drop to my feet while my heart leapt into my throat.

"W-w-wait," I stuttered. "You girls know Jaune?" I couldn't believe this; I had tried so hard to distance myself from them after my failure, hoping to spare them the pain of remembering. But after all this time, I was met by people who were friends with the only other man I considered my brother? What kind of cruel prank was this? I came back from my panic to hear Ruby talking.

"Yeah, we know Jaune," she was saying with a big smile. "He's a really good friend of ours and he's the leader of his own team JNPR. He's become a very accomplished leader and fighter." She said this full of pride, happy for her friend's success. I was having my own worries to this knowledge, though.

"Oh Dust, I can't see Jaune yet. There's no way he would want to see me. I still need to make my wrong right if I ever hope to show my face to him again." I look to the girls and say, "Please, don't tell Jaune that you've seen me. I'm not ready to see him yet. Please, keep this a secret between us." I met their eyes and pleaded, hoping they wouldn't say anything. None of them could keep eye contact with me. None that is, except for Yang, who looked me directly in the eyes and said this. "We are not going to lie to our friends, Grun. We won't bring the subject up, but if he asks us where we have been, we are not going lie to him. That's the best we can promise you."

I sighed and bowed my head, "I suppose that will have to do. Thank you, girls. If you wish, you can come back tomorrow and I'll tell you more of the story. But just so you know, I have something I need to do tomorrow afternoon. You are welcome to join me if you want, but it's up to you." The four of them looked at each other than nodded. As they got up and headed for the door, Yang turned around and held out her hand. I looked at her for a second, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Your scroll," she said, "Give it here for a minute." I wasn't sure what to say to this, so I handed it over. She fiddled with it for a moment before hitting a button, causing all four of their scrolls to chime and light up. She smiled and handed back my scroll, saying, "There, now you have all four of our scroll numbers and we have yours, in case we need to get ahold of you for some reason, or vice versa." Then the four of them left, shutting the door behind them.

I walked to the window to watch them walk back to shuttle craft. Before they got around the building, I saw Yang turn back to look up at my window. I waved good-bye to her, to which she responded by blowing me a kiss. Hmmm, that girl is an odd duck, I thought to myself as they walked around the corner. Seeing them out of my sight, I shut the blinds and went to shelf at my dresser, fumbling desperately for the bottle I kept in the bottom of it.

As I pulled it out, clutching it like a drowning man, I looked up to see my teammates looking at me from the mirror in the dresser, pity in their eyes, though I saw understanding mixed into their faces as well. When I finally pulled the stopper out of the large bottle of John Beamers thrice distilled whiskey, I pressed it to my lips and chugged down half the bottle in one pull. When the liquor got into my system, the trembles in my hands subsided, leaving my hands…not steady, but at least enough I could manage.

"Why do you do this to yourself, man?" Blitz's image walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. Maybe it was the alcohol, but I swear I actually felt him give my shoulder a squeeze. "You could purge every last bit of that poison from your system and not feel a thing. So why put yourself through this every night?" I walked over to the bed, bottle in hand, and looked at the reflections of my friends. I lifted the bottle and took another slug, this one much smaller.

"Because I don't deserve to know that kind of peace. I deserve to suffer like this, so that I will never forget my failure. Plus, it's the only thing these days that lets me sleep." I took another large pull from my bottle, draining it down to less than a quarter left. As my vision started to blur, I stood up and stumbled to the closet, opening it to make sure that the two gifts I had in there were still there. Seeing that they were, I went back to my bed and downed the rest of my drink, falling backwards onto my bed, muttering a weak "good night" to my teammates before falling asleep half on my bed, bottle in hand, arm over my eyes and snoring loudly.

My team all looked at each other and shook their heads. Walking over to me, they each touched the weapons still attached to my wrists and used them as a focus for their Aura. This allowed them to use it to lift me the rest of the way onto the bed and cover me with a blanket. They also took the bottle from my hand and put it in the trash before turning off the lights. Then they settled in on the bed and chairs, each taking a shift to watch over me while I slept, years of habits and teamwork so ingrained in them they didn't even realize it was happening.

Leere moved over and moved a piece of hair off of my face. "Sleep well, Grun. Even if you believe it, you deserve a good rest. We only wish that it was with the people you love, not in this dump, only able to sleep completely wasted like this. You deserve so much better than this, our leader. And we are going to help you get that. We promise." She looked to her husband and his brother, and both of them nodded.

_**The next day, midday.**_

I awoke to a loud banging at my door, as if someone intended to break it down. I growled and got up, walking to the door. I vaguely got a glance at myself in a mirror, seeing I was ragged, shaggy, and badly in need of a wash and shave. But I went ahead and opened the door, if only to protect my head from this killer hangover. Expecting Bull to be wanting to get me to work in the kitchen, I was talking as I opened the door.

"Hey boss, sorry I'm getting such a late start today. Had kind of a late night last….." I trailed off as I realized that it wasn't Bull who I was looking at, but rather an upset Yang and group. The girls all looked at me worried and questioningly. I moved back to invite them in. As they entered, I could tell that they got a strong whiff of the alcohol still lingering in the air. I could see their noses crinkle, though none of them chose to comment on it.

Yang was the first to speak. "So what happened? I thought you were going to call us this morning. But it's already after twelve and…" I cut her off shouting "WHAT?!" She jumped back away from me, not expecting me to yell at her. While she stood there shocked, I dug out my scroll to check the time, vaguely registering the fact that I had about eight missed calls and a slew of messages. She was right, it was already ten after noon.

I cursed loudly, "Oh shit I'm late!" I ran into the bathroom to quickly brush my teeth in hopes of getting the alcohol off my breath, then ran back into the main room, digging through my closet for a clean set of clothes. Not caring that there were people in the room, I disrobed to my boxers and put on clean clothes. The younger three girls all blushed and looked away, but Yang looked at me intently and let out a low whistle.

I looked at her and said, "Did you really just I _**Wolf whistle **_at me?" as I finished getting dressed. She just smiled and kept looking at me. "Whatever. Listen, I'm running late, so if you want to tag along, feel free, but I have got to leave NOW." I reached into the closet again and took out the two wrapped presents. The girls looked at me quizzically, but I was already heading to the door, keys in my hand.

They hurried to keep up with me, sprinting to keep up with my long strides. After closing the door I ran downstairs and hollered to the kitchen, "hey Bull! I got that thing to take care of! You going to be ok till I get back?!" All I got in response was a grunt and a wave from the kitchen. "Thanks Boss, later."

I made my way over to my jeep, opened up the cargo hatch and gently set the gifts inside before securing them so they wouldn't slide. After that was done, I unlocked the doors and hopped into the driver seat. The girls looked like they weren't sure, but after I fired up the engine they all climbed inside, Weiss Ruby and Blake in the back and Yang up front.

I put my seatbelt on and said, "You too kids, seatbelts." The girls looked incredulous, being talked to like little girls, but they complied. When I heard the last belt click, I threw her into gear and stomped on the gas. I screeched through town, getting onto the highway and headed out of town. After about twenty minutes of driving, though if I was driving the speed limit it would've been closer to an hour, I turned off of the highway and headed down a private drive.

The gates were big and sturdy, with a giant "A" worked into some of the bars. I buzzed the intercom and waited. A stern voice came over the intercom, asking "Can I help you?" I looked into the camera and said, "Hey James, it's me. Can you let Jack and Jeanne know that I'm here and let me in?" He responded with, "Of course, Mister Grun. They've been expecting you. I think the festivities are about to begin."

"Thanks James." I said as the gate slid open. I looked at the girls before driving in, seeing the three girls in the back huddled together and clutching at each other, obviously not used to such high speed driving. Yang, however, looked like she had had a blast, her hair loose and fluffy from the wind. She had a gleam in her eyes, like it had been amazing. "This girl must be an adrenaline junky or something." I thought to myself as I drove up to the estate.

When we got up the front door, I killed the engine and walked back to the cargo area. As I unloaded the gifts, I watched the girls slip out of the vehicle, each with different levels of shakiness. Ruby and Weiss completely collapsed to the ground, holding each other. Blake stayed standing, but only by leaning on the jeep. Yang stepped out as if she just got out of a golf cart, a big smile painted on her face. She looked at her team and laughed, "You babies, that was awesome! Do you usually drive that fast?" She looked at me and beamed. I chuckled quietly and said, "Only when I have something worth speeding to get to." I headed up to the door presents in hand.

When I got to the door, I reached up to knock on the door, only to have it open just before my knuckles touched it. Standing before us was a beautiful woman with bright green eyes, long scarlet hair, though now it was streak in spots with grey. She looked up at me and beamed and said "Grun! My dear boy, I'm so glad you made it in time. We were starting to get worried!" She stepped forward to give me a hug and took my gifts as she stepped away and set them aside. She looked me up and down, frowning. "By Dust you've gotten skinny, my son. Have you been eating enough?"

I smiled down at her and said "Hello Mrs. Ark. It's good to see you too. I wouldn't miss this for the world. And yes I have been eating just fine." She met my gaze with a deeper frown. "Now Grun I thought we were past this. You're supposed to call me Mom." I returned her frown with a smile, though mine was tight and strained.

"I appreciate it Mrs. Ark, but I lost that right three years ago. I just wanted to drop off their gifts before it got too late." She huffed at me but didn't press further. Instead she looked around me and smiled. "Well hello there team RWBY! I haven't seen you girls since we visited Jaune. I had no idea you girls knew my other _son_" she put emphasis on the last word, looking at me pointedly. I equally as pointed looked away from her.

"Well we've only known him a short while." Ruby said. "We didn't know that he was coming here today or we would have called ahead." Jeanne nodded and said, "Well why don't you all come inside. I'm certain that the kids are nearby. I think they were playing with Jau-"

She was cut off by a chorus of "DADDDYYYYY!" I had about half a second to process this before I was tackled by a pair of golden wolf pups. As I lay on my back, I looked down and saw two matching sets of wolf ears that were twitching with happiness, while their tales were wagging uncontrollably.

When they looked up at me, full, shameless smile painted across their nearly identical faces, I looked into my children's eyes. My daughter, Emma, had my dark green eyes, and her mother's mischievous grin. Her twin brother, Erin, had his mother's lighter shade of green eyes, and my easy, relaxed smile. They both had the exact same shade of golden hair, though Emma's was down her back to her waist, while Erin kept his shorter, just long enough to pull back into a tail the reached his shoulders. He was copying my hairstyle, I realized, though my hair was dark brown, streaked with a single thin patch of silver. Though their hair was the same color, their wolf ears with completely different. Emma's ears and tail were a bright shade of red, a recessive color she inherited from her grandmother. Erin's ear and tail were a perfect match to mine, dark brown and bushy. They both looked up to me and crawled up to nuzzle against my neck. I wrapped my arms around them, holding them tightly as I jumped to my feet, swinging them around as I spun in place.

"Daddy, stop!" They cried together. "We're getting dizzy!" As I stopped and set them down on the ground, they burst into a fit of giggles because neither of them could stand up straight. I smiled down at them both, my heart swelling with pride and love. "Dear Dust how I've missed them so." I thought to myself. Then a pain hit me in the heart as I realized how much bigger the two have gotten, Erin being just slightly taller than his sister, though you'd only know it if you were familiar with them. "Dust save me, I've missed so much of their lives. They are growing up right before me, and I can't even see it."

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind me. "Grun? Is that you?" I froze in place, not wanting to confirm what I already knew. I slowly turned around to look my old friend in the eyes. "Hello Jaune, It's been quite a while." I tried to smile at him, not sure how to react to his presence. I looked behind him to see a tall read-head standing next to him, as well as some bouncy orange haired pixy girl and a tall black haired fellow with a single pink stripe in his hair. "Maybe this is the team Ruby told me about last night." I thought to myself.

Jaune was staring at me, not believing what he was seeing. Emma and Erin stood behind me, holding onto my pant legs, not sure of how their Uncle Jaune would react to me. The red haired girl moved up to her leader and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. I could tell by the way that she looked at him, though, that she cared for him as more than just a friend. The other two member of their group hung back slightly, the girl staring at me unashamedly, the guy's eyes flicking back and forth between Jaune and myself.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jaune handed his presents to his mother and walked up to me, a look of utter determination on his face. He had his grandfather's sword and shield/sheath at his hip. I was prepared for whatever he wanted to do to me. Did he want to punch me? That was fine; he could punch me for as long as he wanted. Was he going stab me with his sword? I'd have no objections to that; after what I put him through, I had no objections whatsoever. Would he take out his shield and bludgeon me to a bloody pulp? I was perfectly ok with that. He was well within his rights to kill me in various and inventive ways. I simply closed my eyes and waited for whatever he was going to do to happen.

I guess you could say I wasn't as ready as I thought I was because what he did was wrap his arms around me and pull me into a hug. As he started to weep, he said "Grun! Where have you been, brother?! We've missed you so much." I simply stared out from me, eyes wide and freely pouring tears. Finally, I slowly wrapped my arms around him and returned the hug with just as much ferocity. "Oh, little brother, I've missed you all too." We stood there crying for a few minutes before we released each other. We were dripping wet with tears and snot, but we were grinning like fools.

"Dust help us," Jeanne said, "I raised two messy boys." She walked forward and started wiping our faces off with a tissue she had in her hand. Her eyes were shining with fresh tears, but she was smiling warmly at us. I let her wipe me off without a complaint, but I heard the odd "Mom, quit" every now and then when she cleaned off Jaune. When she was done, she stood back and looked at us. "It's so good to have my boys home again."

Jaune and I looked at each other then back at Mrs. Ark. We responded in unison, "We're home, Mom." Mrs. Ark smiled and hugged us both. She started to wave everybody into the house, seeing team RWBY and the rest of JNPR hanging back. "Come in everyone, we have a party to get started." The teams looked at each other and then cheered and bolted inside. I stayed outside, still unsure if I deserved to enter the halls again. When I felt two small hands take hold of mine, I looked down to see Emma and Erin holding my hands, trying to pull me inside. I smiled down at my two children, the two most important people in the world to me, and let them take me into our home.

The inside of the house was utter chaos. Ruby and Nora, the orange haired girl on Jaune's team, were playing with Emma and Erin, as well as the triplets and the youngest girl. They were pretending to be huntsmen on a dangerous mission, though from what I could tell their mission was to see who could eat the most cookies and cake. Ren, the black haired fellow, was talking to Blake and Yang. Weiss was in the kitchen with the twins and Jeanne, watching them cook, fascinated by the way they could all move in such a finite area without getting into each other's ways. Jack was sitting in his chair at the head of the table, waiting for me to enter, before he came towards me.

"Grun! My son, I thought you had forgotten all about us." He walked towards me with a large grin. He wrapped me into a massive bear hug, causing my ribs to creek from the pressure. Dust help me, all these years and he still doesn't know his own strength. I finally got him to release me by slapping his bicep. As he set me down, I coughed out a rough, "Hello Father, it's good to see you too." He grinned widely at this, then turned to Jaune and gave him the same treatment he gave me. After he set Jaune down, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a manila envelope and started to hand it to Jack.

He looked at the envelope and frowned. "Grun, why do you insist on paying us for keeping our grandchildren? We love them and have more than the means to care for them." I looked down and blushed. "I know that," I said. "But they are my children. I know that I can't give them the home that they deserve, but the least I can do is at least make sure that their needs are taken care of, so that you don't have to worry about it." Jack sighed and shook his head, but he took the envelope anyway and stuck it in his jacket, at least just to not have to argue on this joyous day.

Jaune and I walked towards the kitchen, chatting over everything, and yet nothing, catching up over our lives. When we got to the kitchen, I ruffled the twins' hair and grabbed a couple of drinks before ducking back out, deftly dodging a hand full of flour. As I handed him a drink, I leaned against the wall, Jaune leaning next to me. Jaune and I watched as his red headed teammate, named Pyrrha started playing with the children as well.

"So," I said to Jaune as we both took a drink, "How long have you and Pyrrha been together?" This caused Jaune to choke on his drink and spew it all over the floor, coughing violently. Pyrrha looked over at us, obvious worry on her face. I slapped Jaune on the back until his coughing calmed down. I waved Pyrrha away as she moved this way, smiling to let her know he was fine. She stopped for a moment, still concerned about Jaune, but nodded and walked off to rejoin the children.

I smiled at Jaune and slapped his back one more time. "Congratulations, little brother. You landed yourself a real cutie. And she seems to be nice and caring too. You got yourself a keeper there, pal. Good Job." His coughing finally calmed down and he said, "Me and Pyrrha aren't together. We're just friends. She's my teammate."

I looked at him, confused. "But it's painfully obvious that she cares for you deeply. I'd even wager that she loves you, brother. You really haven't noticed that?" He shook his head, not to say he didn't notice, but to deny the possibility entirely. "She's Pyrrha Nykos, the star of Beacon. She could have her pick of any guy she wanted. There's no way she would ever want a guy like me." He hung his head in defeat. It was obvious he cared for this girl, but his insecurities kept him from taking the plunge.

Well I couldn't have that. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't help him out? I stood up straight and started walking straight to Pyrrha. I could Jaune whispering fervently behind me, asking me what I was doing. I simply looked back and smiled then kept walking. Pyrrha saw me just as I reached her. She looked up into my eyes, an uneasy smile on her face. I bowed low before her and said, "Greeting and salutations, fair maiden. I don't believe we have been introduced. My name is Grun, Jaune's older brother." I stood up tall and smiled widely, showing her that I was joking around. She smiled sincerely at me and curtsied and said, "Well met master Grun, my name is Pyrrha Nykos, and I'm Jaune's partner and teammate." She giggled at the absurdity of the exchange. I smiled in return and turned so that I was leaning against the wall next to her, looking at Jaune, seeing him blush and squirm. My smile widened at seeing this. "Oh this is going to be so much fun" I think to myself.

"So Ms. Nykos" I started, to have her interrupt with, "Please, just Pyrrha is fine." "Pyrrha, do you mind if I ask you something a little personal? It won't be anything gross or dirty or anything. It's just something I wanted to ask something about you and Jaune, if that's ok." She looked a little nervous, but didn't want to be rude to her leader's brother, so she nodded.

"Thank you Pyrrha." I said with a smile. "So, if you don't mind, how long have you been in love with Jaune?" The question caused her to choke on the drink she was sipping on. I patted her on the back too to help her out. After she had calmed down, her face was flushed the same shade of red as her hair, and I could tell she was embarrassed as all get out. I grinned and thought to myself "Nailed that one on the head." I chuckled to myself.

"Don't worry," I said to her. "Jaune doesn't have a clue how you feel about him. And I won't say anything to him about it if you don't want to tell him right out. But let me give you a piece of advice, from personal experience. Jaune is thicker than a blacksmith's anvil. If you ever want him to notice you as more than just a friend or teammate, you are going to just come out and tell him, point blank, in no unsure terms how you feel about him. That is the only way he is going to understand how you fell."

Pyrrha was too embarrassed to say anything, so she only nodded. I smiled and placed a hand on top of her head. "Don't worry, Pyrrha, he'll come around. But take it from me, you'll be happier if you do it sooner rather than later." My eyes took on a far away look as I remembered my own love. "You never know how long you'll have with the people you care about most." I stood there a moment, lost in my past, until I heard Pyrrha say, "Mr. Grun? Are you ok?" I shook myself back to the present and smiled. "Yes, Pyrrha," I said, "I'm just fine. And just Grun is fine." She nodded and I walked off to find my children so I could join in on their game.

_**Several hours later**_

I was sitting in the living room, both of my kids in my lap, sound asleep and snoring loudly. I smiled and rubbed their heads. "I am so sorry you kids inherited that from me, my loves." They both mumble in their sleep and snuggled closer to me. I smiled and just enjoyed their presence. Dear Dust how I've missed this. I looked around. Jack and Jeanne were carrying busy carrying the girls to their rooms. Ruby and Weiss had both fallen asleep against a wall, an unfinished plate of cookies sitting between them. Weiss's head rested against Ruby's shoulder. Ren and Nora were passed out in a similar fashion not far from them, but Nora was in Ren's lap. Pyrrha and Yang were cleaning up the table ware. Jaune was asleep in the chair next to me, though his face was covered in make up and he had several bows and pig tails in his blond hair.

Jeanne walked up to me and asked, "Do you want me to take them to bed?" I shook my head and stood up, holding each of them against me with their bottoms on my arms. "That's ok, mother, I'll take them. I haven't gotten to put them to bed in a long time." She smiled and nodded, leading me up my kid's room. Apparently they had adopted the same codependence that Adam and I had shared all those years ago. Another pang of regret rang through my heart, but I shoved it aside. I walked over and put them in their beds. As they settled into bed they scooted closer to each other and reached out to hold hands across the empty space. I smiled at this and quietly made my way out into the hall.

"I'll never understand how I was blessed with such amazing children." I said to Jeanne. She smiled in return, saying "Well I've heard kids inherit a lot from their grandparents, so that may be the answer." I quietly laughed at this and responded with "I can only hope that the have half the humility that you have mother." She laughed at this and started walking down the hall with me. After a few minutes, however, her expression saddened. "You're going to see her, aren't you?" I nodded in response, my throat suddenly too tight to speak. "Did you bring flowers?" I slapped my head and shook it, realizing my mistake. She smiled gently and said, "Get some from the green house. You know the way, don't you?" I simply nodded and headed off to my destination.

After stopping at the green house to pick some fresh Revert Disbuds, Arianna's favorites because of the different shades of green within them, I continued walking out the back property, until I got to a short, iron fence. Though it was obviously very old, it was exceptionally well maintained, without a speck of rust marring it. I opened the gate and walked in, passing James on the way. We nodded to each other without speaking and I kept going, searching each name plate as I walked past them. Finally I found the one I was searching for and stood before it. I looked down and read the plate on this perfectly cut slab of marble.

_**Arianna Ark**_

_** Devoted Wife, Loving Mother, Beloved Daughter**_

_** You will be forever missed. **_

I knelt down before my wife's tombstone, crying quietly, trying to keep myself composed. I gently placed the flowers into the special holster on her grave. "Hello Arianna, it's been a long time." I spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb the serenity of this sacred place, where so many Arks from the past laid around her, welcoming her into their company. "I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you sooner, my love. I've been trying to find the man who did this to you." I stopped, choking back hot tears. "I know that you would never want this Arianna. Never in a million years would you want blood to be spilled in your name. But I can't let this go, my dear. Three long years, living with my failure, knowing that if I had been at your side, then I would have been able to save you. All this time, the only thing that has kept me going is my desire to kill this man. I must do this, if I am to ever have any amount of peace of mind. I know that all this is is selfish justification, but I can't let this go. I miss you so much, Arianna." I was openly weeping now, tears pouring down my face.

I was suddenly aware that I was no longer alone when I felt a presence behind me. I turned to find Yang standing at my shoulder, just behind me. She was looking at the headstone, the flowers, and my tears. "I'm sorry, Grun, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you. I just saw you walk out here and I got curious so I followed you." She looked at me nervously. "I can go back to the house, if you'd rather be alone." I slowly shook my head, not speaking but silently accepting her companionship.

"How long were you two together?" Yang asked me. I quietly responded with "We were married for seven years. I proposed to her a few years after I started white fang. She knew what I was doing but she didn't even hesitate in saying yes after I had asked her." I chuckled quietly to myself. "Of course, I only asked after weeks of her leaving catalogs for wedding dresses and engagement rings around the house. I suppose Jaune got his thick-headedness from me. But anyway, we were married on her birthday, when we were both finally eighteen. Not long after we discovered that she was with child. Well, children."

She looked over at me and asked quietly. "What happened?" She didn't need to finish her question, I knew what she meant. I sighed and answered, "I tried to keep my marriage to a human a secret from my brothers and sisters in the white fang. Me, a Faunus, marrying a human would've been seen as the ultimate betrayal. So for six years, I was able to keep my two lives separate. But after so long, I got lazy, sloppy, and complacent. One of my second in commands had followed me home, trying to ask me a question for a protest we were to have the next day. I didn't notice him, being so tired from a long day of protest. He hid not far from my door, watched as I walked in to be greeted by my human wife."

I stopped to compose myself, the next part being the most painful. "Several nights later, a good friend of mine asked me to come to the hideout. When I did, they ambushed me, tied me up and beat me. The men and women I had stood beside for so long, hating me, trying to kill me simply because my heart took me somewhere else. They told me that another group was going to my house to kill my human bitch and my bastard children. This caused me to lose my sanity for a short while. I freed myself and escaped, killing several of my former brothers in the act. I ran, ran as fast as I could, trying to get hope, hoping against hope that I wasn't too late, that I could save them. I was just in my yard when I heard my wife let out a scream full of pain and fear. I burst through the door to seem a single man pull his sword from my wife's stomach, turning to take his blade to my children. I howled my defiance at him and jumped on his back. I had no weapons on me, so I sank my teeth into his throat, biting and tearing, feeling the soft flesh and warm blood fill my mouth. I didn't stop attacking until he was on the ground and long dead. When I turned to my children, I saw that they were ok, huddled behind the couch, which had been over turned to make a makeshift barrier. As I looked around the room, I saw that there were at least fifteen dead Faunus in my living room, all of them with similar battle wounds from my wife's weapons, a pair of bladed Tonfa, which she was still holding in her hands. I leapt to her side, holding her in my arms, trying to keep the blood from escaping from her. She looked me in the eyes, not an ounce of fear in them as she whispered, "Are the children ok?" I nodded, unable to answer her verbally. She smiled beautifully and said, "Thank goodness. Please, take care of them Grun. You three are the most important things in this world to me. I love you so much, Grun." I wept and said, "I love you too, Arianna, so so much. With all my heart." She smiled again, she then closed her eyes and sighed, the last breath escaping her mouth. I wept, I howled my rage, my sorrow, my deep rooted pain. I cursed whatever wretched deity would do this, to create a light so bright in this world just to allow it to be snuffed out so soon. I finally realized that the house might not be safe. I grabbed up some clothes, my weapons from our room, and the kids. I loaded up in our jeep and drove, not daring to stop for lights or traffic. Doing everything I could to get out of the city, to safety.

After hours of backtracking and doubling back in hopes to give any body following the slip, I made my way here, to beg my wife's parents to take in our children to keep them safe until I could safely return to take them back. This was three years ago. Now I'm hunting for the man who did this to me, the man who took the brightest light from my life. I will find him, and I will kill him."

I heard a short sniffle behind us. I turned around to find the rest of team RWBY behind us, all three of them crying uncontrollably. Yang stood and went to her team, holding each of them, comforting them.

Blake spoke up. "This is why you left the white fang? They betrayed you and killed your wife." I responded with a quiet yes. She moved up in front of me and looked me in the eyes. "Who was it?" she asked, a deep rooted desire to know who did this in her eyes, but I could see by the pain on her face she already had a suspicion.

I looked directly into her eyes and answered her. "Adam." She looked away, new found pain racking her body with great sobs. I looked up to the rest of the team, each of them expressing shock. "Yes, the man who, for the longest time, I considered my brother. The boy I always put before anything else, the brother I helped raise, was the one who betrayed me. He had my wife killed, and would've done the same to me and my children. This is why I must find him. I will make him pay for what he did."

Blake looked back up at me, new fire in her eyes. "And I'm going to help you. He lied to take the power of the white fang for himself and perverted its desires to fit him goals. We are going to take him down, and put the rightful leader back into power."

I slowly shook my head. "No Blake, once I take Adam down, I have no desire to take back control of the white fang. I just want to live my days, taking care of my children and keeping them safe. Once Adam is gone, the white fang can sort itself out."

Blake looked at me with disappointment in her eyes, but she nodded, understanding. She turned to the rest of her team and said, "I know I have no business asking you this, but will you help me in assisting Grun?" She looked at them hopefully, waiting for their answer. All three girls sighed and nodded their heads, but Weiss piped in with, "We may help you find him and get to him, but we will NOT assist you with killing this man, no matter how much he deserves it. We are Huntresses, not executioners."

I nodded to her, "I would never ask of you to dirty your hands and souls with something like this. The stain this will leave is for me to bear and me alone. Thank you for your help, my young friends." As I said one last goodbye to my beloved wife, I sent up a prayer to her, begging her to understand. I know in my heart that she will not forgive me, for choosing this path, but chose it I did, and I will walk it, no matter how far I become drenched in blood and hate. It's ironic, really. All those years, humans told us we were creatures, monsters to be feared. And yet it was a fellow Faunus who finally pushed me to the brink, turning me into the monster people always thought me to be.

The five of us headed back to the house, the sun having just set. The girls all yawned and headed to their rooms. I went into my bedroom. The room that Adam and I shared all those years ago, when we were still brothers, not knowing what pain the future held. Usually I drank myself into a stupor, in hopes that I would not dream and remember that night. But tonight, I went to bed sober, welcoming those memories, wanting them to wash over me and fuel the fire in my heart, to make me find the man who denied my children their mother, to kill the person who robbed Jaune of his only big sister, the man who took away the woman who saved my life and gave me a reason to live on.

I wept as the memories came back to me, the night of pain, of blood, of death and of loss.

~End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

_**The sound of blades clashing, smell of sweat and blood mingling with the musk of fear and desperation. I slowly opened my eyes to see a terrible sight. My team were doing everything they could to protect me and my newlywed wife. I was lying on the ground, my head in her lap while she held onto me protectively, tears flowing from her eyes as she tried to staunch the flow of blood from the large gash across my chest.**_

_** "Leere!" she's crying, "Please I need your help! I can't close his wound and he's bleeding too much!" Leere was torn. She wanted to help her friend and leader, but she didn't want to leave her husband and brother-in-law to deal with the tides of Grimm that were closing in on them.**_

_** "Go Leere!" Blitz shouted, "We got this! Go help Grun!" Leere nodded and leapt back towards me and Arianna. She sheathed her twin Sai's and placed her hands onto my chest, desperately pouring her Aura into me, trying to close up my chest. Blitz and Macht were fighting side by side, Macht's Tonfa were twirling, slicing and stabbing at the beowolves that tried to circle us and cut off our escape. Blitz's weapons were large whip blades, which he was constantly twirling in large circles, slicing the Grimm. One beowolf got within the effective circle of his whips, so he switched one of his blades to its close range mode, transforming it into a three foot long Kukri, which he used to decapitate the beast. When its head was removed, Blitz switched the weapon back mid swing, not wasting it's momentum and going back to his dual whip defense.**_

_** I could feel the last bit of my chest wound closing. When it was done, I slowly got to my feet, trying to get my balance. I reached to my waist to grab my weapons, my large clawed gauntlets. I slipped them on and dove at the Grimm, eviscerating beasts left and right. "Take Arianna and get out of here guys!" I shouted to my team. **_

_** "Boss, are you crazy?" Blitz shouted to me. "You just had your chest sewn shut and you expect us to leave you here?" He pierced two beowolves' hearts and looked at me, disbelief on his face. **_

_** "Yes I am and yes I do." I shouted back with a lupine grin. "I'm a better fighter than you three combined and you know it. Someone has to keep these things occupied while you get away. You guys are the only people I would trust with this, so I'm asking you all, as my friends and my teammates, please, protect my wife." **_

_** Macht and Leere had doubt on their faces. I could tell that they were not ok with this but they took Arianna by the arms and started running back the way we had come. Blitz was still fighting by my side, not wanting to leave his friend behind. I looked at him and said, "Go my friend. Protect our wives." Blitz still hesitated, so I said to him, "Dammit Blitz get out of here! Don't force me to make it an order!" There was pain in his eyes but finally he broke off and chased after our teammates. I smiled knowing that they would keep each other safe. **_

_** I turned my full attention back onto the Grimm before me, their numbers thinning but their anger increasing, the need to get to me growing with each passing moment. My claw alone wouldn't be enough to take care of them, so I activated my Semblance, pouring my Aura into the blades, changing from evisceration to merely injuring the Grimm. Each attack I dealt left a small piece of my Aura in the animals. The other Grimm began to sense this and started to turn on one another. **_

_** Satisfied that they would be distracted long enough, I deactivated my semblance and took off in the direction my team had left in. I ran full speed, desperate to catch up to them. I could sense them, about 30 yards ahead of me. But I could smell something in between us. I tested the air with my Faunus senses and felt my blood go cold. "A Nevermore…" I poured Aura into my legs, moving faster than anybody ever could. **_

_** I was about ten yards from them when it happened. I heard a great scream and saw huge black feathers rain down on the position in knew my team to be at. I roared in anger, using the Aura in my legs to blast myself skyward, grabbing onto the Nevermore by the neck with my claws and cleaved clean though, completely decapitating it. As it fell, I jumped off its body down to my team, desperate to get to them in time. **_

_** I was too late. My team lay scattered about a clearing, feathers piercing their bodies, pinning them to the ground as their blood flowed from them. Blitz and Leere had been close enough to hold each other's hands. Macht was laying a few feet away, caught in the middle of pushing my wife away to safety. She had been lucky, only being grazed by the feather that would've otherwise impaled her. She was crying, hurting for seeing her friends suffer so.**_

_** I fell to my knees, weeping at my helplessness. How could I do this to them? I sent them to their deaths. I could feel their Auras fading away. ….Wait, I thought to myself. "Their Auras….could it work?" Desperate to save them, I activated my semblance once again. But instead of sending my Aura out, I moved between them, where my hands could touch all three of their and concentrated on trying to pull Aura back in. I could feel their Auras responding to my call, their souls slowly moving from their bodies and into mine. **_

_** After I had drain in all the Aura that they had, I deactivated my semblance once more, collapsing to the ground. Arianna ran to my side, holding tightly to me. I watched in dismay as my teammate's bodies, clothing, weapons, everything faded to Dust and blew away. I howled in pain and loss, but Arianna and I picked ourselves up and ran. We made it back to our house safely. We wept at the loss of our friends. I felt shame, pain, regret, guilt. I had gotten my closest friend killed. **_

_** "Boss?" I heard Blitz's voice in my head. I stood, spinning, trying to find him. "Blitz! Is that you?" Arianna looked at me, fear on her face.**_

_** "Grun?" she said, "who are you talking to?" She stood up and walked to my side. "There isn't anybody here but us." She took my hand and guided me to the chair. I sat down, weeping. **_

_** "I know Arianna," I said, "But I could have sworn I heard him. As if he was standing right next to me." I sighed heavily, looking at myself in the mirror. What I saw caused me to fall out my seat and yell. Arianna looked at the mirror as well, but didn't see what I saw until she took my hand, her semblance allowing her to attune her Aura to mine. We both gawked at the mirror.**_

_** In it was my team, healthy and whole, as if the Nevermore had ever touched them. They were looking at themselves and each other, obvious shock on their faces. They then looked up at Arianna and me. Blitz looked right at me and said "Boss? What the hell happened to us?" Realizing what I had actually done, not daring to believe it worked, I passed out in the chair.**_

**(Present Day)**

I awoke, dripping in sweat, bile rising into the back of my throat. "Holy Dust," I said out loud. "I haven't had that dream in a long time." I scrubbed my face with my hands and got up out of bed. I walked over to the full length mirror and stared at myself. Leere, Macht and Blitz walked into my sight behind me, smiling. I stared at them, a thought suddenly occurring to me.

"You guys gave me that dream, didn't you? You wanted to show me something." They all smiled and nodded. I could already tell this was going to be like pulling teeth from an Ursa. I sighed and said, "Alright, I'll bite, what were you trying to show me?" They looked at each other and nodded.

Leere was the one to answer. "We wanted to show you that it was not your fault that we died, that we don't blame you for what happened to us. We chose to go with Arianna and we chose to give our lives to protect her. So you need to stop blaming yourself."

I shook my head and said, "I'll never be able to forgive myself, and I'm not talking about this right now. It's freaking five in the morning and I wanna get back to sleep. Now please let me sleep, and no more weird dreams."

They looked at each other and shook their heads, a look of pained acceptance on their faces. "So stubborn," the said in unison, a phrase they used about me thousands of times before. But they smiled and walked off, leaving me to myself. I sighed and shook my head. They can say what they wish, they may even forgive me; but nothing will change the fact that got my team killed.

I yelled and punched the mirror, shattering it into millions of pieces. I was disgusted with myself. I felt pain on my hand and looked down to see blood dripping from several lacerations across my knuckles. I sighed and grabbed one of my dark green bandanas and wrapped it around my hand, stopping the flow of blood. I then set about cleaning up the mess I had made, sweeping up all of the glass. As I threw the last of the glass away I sighed and stood up.

"Well, there's no way that I'm going back to sleep now. Might as well make myself useful while everyone is asleep." I put on a loose black shirt to cover all of my old scars and headed out of my room, making my way down to the kitchen.

**(A few hours later)**

"Alright! Grun made breakfast!" I heard the Ark sisters all shout in unison, as they scrambled around the table to get to their seats. Teams RWBY and JNPR, excluding Jaune, looked at all of the food covering the long family table from one end to the other with obvious shock and amazement. Jaune just smiled and shook his head, having seen this happen several times in the past.

"So brother," he said to me, "Planning on some rigorous sparring later, huh?" I returned his grin with a large wolfish smile. "You can read me like a book, Jaune. Yes I was hoping to have a sparring bout, if you guys are willing. I want to get a real test for the people my brother calls his friends and comrades." I paused to see Pyrrha step up next to Jaune and place her hand in his, which caused them both to blush. This caused me to smile even larger. "And especially his lover." The others look at the two with mixtures of shock, joy and relief.

"Vomit-boy, you finally took the plunge, huh?" Yang said and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. This caused me to raise an eyebrow. "Vomit-boy? You still haven't gotten over your motion sickness, Jaune?" This caused the others to fall into fits of laughter at their friend's expense. Finally everybody sat down and started eating. Ruby, Nora, Emma and Erin dug into the chocolate chip pancakes with vengeance. Weiss and Ren were slowly eating pieces of toast and a fruit salad. Blake and Pyrrha were filling their plates with eggs and a bowl of oatmeal each. I decided to have a little of everything, filling my plate with pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and I filled up a mug with my special brew of coffee.

As I was digging into my breakfast I saw a cloud of yellow settle next to me. I looked to my left to see Yang settle into the seat next to mine, her plate nearly identical to mine. I raised my eyebrow at her as she held a mug out to me, but I filled her mug with my coffee as well. She then reached across the table and grabbed the cream and sugar and put equal amount of each in the coffee. At my questioning look she laughed and said, "My semblance burns up a lot of energy, as well as calories, so I have to eat big to keep up with it." She smiled after I nodded and dug in with equal ferocity.

There wasn't a scrap of food left on the table when everybody was done eating. Jack and Jeanne had made it in time to get a plate each, as well as James. After everybody was done, I started to clean up, but the sisters moved in and grabbed up everything. I looked at Jeanne who said, "You cooked for us for the first time in years. The least we could do is clean up. Now go outside and play with your friends, son."

I sighed but smiled and nodded to everybody. We all went out to the expansive back yard, Teams JNPR RWBY myself and my kids. I wasn't sure about my kids seeing this, but I understood they would have to learn how to defend themselves sooner or later. So I allowed them to come out and watch as well.

Everyone was going through their individual warm up exercises. I finished and said, "Alright, who wants to go first?" Everyone looked a little uncertain who it should be, but Jaune stepped forward and pulled out his Crocea Mors, the Ark family blade and shield. "I'll take that honor, Grun. It's been far too long since we've had a match." This caused me to smile and nodded. "You're quite right little brother." I reached to my forearms and pulled out Saphir Blitz and Diamant Macht from their holsters. I could see that the teams were anxious to see how my weapons worked, especially Blake.

I smiled and obliged. I poured some Aura into my weapons and felt as it poured back out of the handles, creating weapons of pure Aura and Dust. I settled on my least lethal of my arsenal and turned them into Tonfa of deep blue and opaque white. I could see the looks of disbelief and wonder in all of their faces, especially those of Ruby and Nora. "They must be the weapon enthusiasts of the group I thought." I turned to see Jaune's relaxed look directed at me. He had sparred with me hundreds of times over the years, and he was very familiar with what they could do.

I settled into a stance of low gravity, my arms held before me at slightly different angles with the long arms of my Tonfa resting on the bottoms of my forearms. Jaune then settled into a defensive stance, one foot forward, shield up to cover his torso with his sword angled down slightly from the top of his shield. "I see you still remember the training I pounded into your head, brother. Good." Jaune only nodded, waiting for the signal from his father, who was watching and acting as defacto-referee. Jack looked from one fighter to the other, then nodded and shouted, "Begin!"

Jaune and I leapt onto the offensive at the same time, trading blows in quick succession. I easily deflected Jaune's wide swings of his sword and shield. I could tell that he has kept up with his training after I disappeared. Good, I thought. He needs to be ready for whatever life throws at him. But I noticed something as we kept trading blows. There was something different about his fighting style. He was more controlled, less likely to waste energy on power blows and focused more on precise strikes, looking to work his way through my defense and ware me down.

"So tell me Jaune," I said as I knocked a quick jab aside and jumped away from it. "Who has been tutoring you in my absence? Whoever they are is obviously very skilled and patient to be able to beat any kind of lesson into your thick skull, little brother." He blushed at this, which caused him to miss a step. This allowed me the chance to step inside his guard and flip his sword and shield from his grasp. I followed up with a sweeping kick that put him on his back. I gently placed my foot on his chest and pointed my Tonfa at his throat.

"Do you yield?" I asked him. He sighed and nodded. I got off of him and helped him to his feet. As I slid my weapons back into their holsters to pick up Jaune's sword and shield, I saw Pyrrha run to his side to check him for injuries. Satisfied that he was ok, she then stood and turned to me. As I handed Jaune his weapons back, she said to me, "I shall be your next opponent, Grun. I must avenge the honor of my pupil." I smiled at this and nodded, moving to take my position for our match. I waited for Pyrrha to produce her weapons, a long folding spear that could act as a short sword and a rifle. She also had a round shield strapped to her left forearm.

I grunted and said, "I see why you tutored him. Your weapon choices would afford you similar fighting styles." I then smiled and teased her by saying, "As well as plenty of opportunities to be alone with him." This caused Pyrrha to blush a bright pink, but she said nothing. I smiled wider and looked to Jaune.

"Tell me brother, did she ever spend too much time working on grapples, maybe spending extra time to guide your hands exactly where they needed to go?" Jaune looked mortified as he stared down at the ground, his face brighter than Pyrrha's. I howled with laughter and pulled my weapons once more. This time I gave them the shape of large Sais. I spun them through a couple movements, making sure the balance was right. Then I took a side facing offensive stance and nodded. "Ready," I said.

Jack once again shouted, "Begin!" Pyrrha and I began our dance. This woman was a very capable fighter, I was happy to admit. She moved from one stance to another flawlessly, spearing, spinning, striking, always moving, and always working at my weak points. And I must say, she was giving me a run for my money. This girl could fight. I was doing everything I could to deflect her sword and shield. "Time to get tricky," I thought to myself. I deflected a rather powerful swing of her long spear and flipped away from her. As soon as I landed I charged her, spinning as I jumped, swinging my foot directly at head. Just before my foot connected, however, I felt something tug at the steel bracing in my boots and covering my shin. It caused my kick to go high and sail over her head. "Strange," I thought. I stepped my leg down halfway through the kick and reversed my kick, attempting to kick her in the midsection. Just before my leg connected, I felt that force gently push against my leg, slowing it enough to allow her to pull back away from my kick.

"My my," I said out loud. "That is quite an interesting semblance you have there, young Pyrrha. I've only ever heard of three people in all of Vale who had a semblance of polarity." This caused her to falter a step and I pressed my advantage by swing my Sai into the strap of her shield, pulling it free and tossing it away from her. I saw her reach out and try to guild it back to her with her semblance, but I thought she would try it, so I tossed Diamant Macht, spearing the shield to a tree by its straps. Pyrrha glared at me and swung her sword at me. I ducked under it and flipped away from her.

As I reached down to undo my shin guards and pull of my boots, leaving no metal anywhere on my body, I shifted Saphir Blitz into a blade whip, keeping it its Kukri form. I looked at Pyrrha and smiled, ready to begin again. She charged me and I met her blade with my own, holding it with two hands to give me better control of the large blade.

"So tell me, what made you confess to Jaune so suddenly?" I whispered to her as were locked together, each trying to force the others sword away to make an opening. She blushed and shook her head. "That is my secret," she said with a smile. "However, if you manage to beat me, I may tell you." I grinned and nodded. As I released my pressure, causing her to lunge forward at the sudden lack of resistance. I stuck my foot out to trip her as she went by and I flicked my sword out to smack her sword out of her hand. As it flipped, I grabbed it and held it with its blade facing back toward Saphir Blitz. I then stabbed the two blades into the ground on either side of Pyrrha's neck, a foot away from each side.

As she stared up at me in disbelief, not believing that she was bested so easily. I smiled down at her and asked, "Do you yield?" She slowly nodded and I pulled the blades from the ground. I put my weapon back into it holster and took her hand to help her up. When she was on her feet, I held onto her hand a moment and borrowed a bit of her power. I reached towards the tree with my Aura and watched her shield and my Diamant Macht fly into my hand. She stared at me in pure shock, not sure what to make of what she just saw.

"How in Dust's name did you do that?" She asked me. I smiled as I put away my other weapon and handed her her shield. Before she put it away, I caught a glimpse of Blitz in its reflection, mouthing the words "Show off" before he was gone. I grinned wider and replied with, "I'll tell you all my secret if you tell me yours." This caused her to blush. I could tell she wasn't quite comfortable with divulging something so personal, but I could also tell she was dying to know what I had done. Finally she nodded and told me.

"It's simple, really" she began. "I was thinking about what you told me about never knowing when we could lose somebody we loved. So I asked Jaune to meet me outside after everybody went to bed. I spent most of the evening worrying about what to say. But when Jaune finally showed up, all I could think to do was kiss him and tell him everything; how I felt about him, how I wanted to be with him, how he treated me like an equal and a friend instead of a benefit or a stepping stone. He was shocked at first but then he kissed me back and told me he felt the same way about me. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes."

I smiled and nodded. "I have a feeling that there might be more to that story than you are telling, based on Jaune's slight limp this morning before sparring and the fact that his hoodie is still inside out." This caused Pyrrha to blush a violent shade a red and looked afraid. I smiled reassuringly and said, "Don't worry, I might be a crude man, but I wouldn't delve that far into somebody's business knowing they are uncomfortable with it." She smiled in relief and I said, "Let's go back to the group and I'll tell everybody about my semblance, like I promised."

Pyrrha nodded and we walked back to the group. Pyrrha walked to Jaune's side and whispered something in his ear. He blushed a violent red and turned his head around to see that his hoodie was indeed inside out. I saw him mouth to Pyrrha, "Does he know?" She simply shrugged and they both turned to face me. I smiled widely at them and winked, causing them both to blush even harder.

"Alright everyone," I said to take the attention off of the two lovers. "Before we start the next match, I made a promise to tell all of you guys about my semblance." This caused everybody to perk up and stare at me, my children included. Jack walked over and said, "Grun, are you sure about this?" I nodded to him and said, "Yes father. I trust them." Jack nodded and sat next to his grandchildren.

"My semblance," I started, "Is a little tricky to explain. I have the ability to manipulate, absorb and assimilate my own Aura as well as any Aura I come into contact with." I saw that Weiss, Blake, Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha understood what I meant. However, Ruby, Nora, Yang, and my children were all obviously confused.

"What does that mean, Daddy?" Emma and Erin both looked at me from Jack's lap, excited to actually see their father fight, even if it wasn't real. I smiled and said, "It might be easily to show you than explain it. Weiss, Blake, Ruby, would you mind coming up by me, please?" Weiss and Blake agreed. Ruby did as well but she was a little worried. I smiled to show her it was ok.

When they were standing before me I said, "Ok everyone, watch closely." I held my hand out to Blake, who placed hers in mine. I looked at her and said, "This might feel a little strange, but don't struggle. I won't hurt you, I promise." She nodded and I began to siphon off a tiny portion of her Aura.

I felt her Aura flow in and through me. I let her hand go and stepped back. But as I did, there was still a shadowy figure of myself standing there, still holding her hand. Everybody gawked at it. It turned to look at everyone, smiled and winked, and then faded from existence. Next I walked to Weiss, she already had her hand out, wanting to see this for hers self. I smiled and repeated the exercise. As her Aura flowed through me I stepped back and activated my semblance.

A large Glyph appeared beneath me, followed by a sphere of smaller Glyphs above me. I leapt up and hung upside down from one Glyph before I quickly jumped from one Glyph to the next. I was little more than a green blur by the time I finally stopped and settled on the ground. Ruby was practically throwing her hand in my face to get me to take it. I laughed and grabbed it, taking in some of her Aura.

I took off like a bolt of lightning, making it inside the house, grabbing a drink and standing before everybody smugly drinking from it before the dust had even settled from my departure. I drained the glass, set it on the ground and looked at everybody. "So," I said, "Do you understand it now?" Both teams and my children nodded, amazed at what they had just seen.

"That is amazing," Yang said. "I can't believe that you can copy anybody's abilities." She frowned for a moment, lost in thought, before saying, "Wait, what about your weapons? I thought they were just a couple of solid tubes, but you made two or three different weapons appear from them."

I smiled at this and said, "It's basically the same principle, only in reverse. Instead of pulling Aura in to myself to copy an ability, I send some Aura out and channel them through my hilts. I send them out with a specific shape and function in mind. Then when they are what they want, I freeze the Aura in place, making an unbreakable, nonmetallic weapon that I can use as I please."

Weiss piped in with, "Wait, doesn't that mean that you're essentially locking a portion of your Aura outside of your body, leaving you drained of it until you recall the weapons?" I smiled at her and said, "It's good to see that they are actually teaching you kids something besides how to best kill a mindless creature." This caused her to blush and smile a little. "And to answer your question, yes, I am essentially pulling out a part of my energy reserve and keeping it just out of my ability to use it as it was intended."

"Isn't that a large strain after an extended fight?" Yang asked me. I gave her a bright smile. "Yes it is. Part of the reason I called for this break was to rest before I continued, knowing that I was only good for another battle or two. As well as explain all of this to you guys."

This called Jaune to look at me and say, "But Grun, dad and I already know about your 'Special Reserve' of Aura. Shouldn't you explain how that helps you?" I looked at Jaune with an annoyed look on my face. He was smiling, knowing that this was a great embarrassment to me. "If you are asking this just to get back at me for picking on you and Pyrrha, remember this Jaune. I know every dirty little secret about you. From where you still hide all of your porn to the real reason you get motion sickness. But for now, I'll just leave it at letting you explain to everyone later why your hoody is inside out." He looked at me in shock and horror, remembering how sadistic I could be when I get annoyed. The other girls looked at Jaune and Pyrrha, who were both blushing profusely.

Yang jumped behind him and grabbed his collar, screaming, "Hey, his hoodie really is inside out!" This caused the rest of the group to fall into fits of laughter, distracting them from the thing Jaune brought up. I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, I feel plenty rested. Who wants to spar with me next?"

As I was fighting with both Nora, with her giant war hammer and Ren, with his dual machine pistols, I thought to myself, "I'm not ready to tell them that much. Not yet anyway." I took Ren out easily; the boy had no stamina. But Nora doubled her efforts to beat me seeing Ren laying on the ground. "Dust but this woman is strong." After a sold twenty minutes of deflecting her hammer and dodging her grenades, I finally disarmed her and forced her to surrender.

After that fight I was feeling a little cocky, so I invited Ruby, Weiss and Ruby to all come after me. They hesitated at first, but then obliged after seeing how I dispatched Nora. The three took up positions around me, none getting to close or too far away. Each drew their weapons and readied themselves. After considering the best way to beat them all, I decided on the whip blades, which would offer me the most reach to hopefully counteract Ruby's speed and Weiss's Glyphs.

The fight was hard and it lasted nearly two hours. These girls were no strangers to battle, no were the afraid to work together as a team. They combined their abilities and watched each other's backs, one covering the other's while they either had to reload or correct an over step or mistake.

I was actually breaking out into a sweat at this point. "By Dust, these girls are strong. I can see why Jaune considered them his allies." All of us were at a mutual standstill, all of us trying to catch our breaths. I was starting to think that maybe I bit off more than I could chew. However, as luck would have it, Ruby charged me by herself, wanting to end this quickly now. I barely dodged her as she blew by me, her scythe cutting a few of my hairs from my head. I reached out as she passed, my hand gliding across her arm and siphoning off some of her Aura once more.

As her speed flowed into me, I quickly spun and kicked her scythe from her hands and burying it into a nearby tree. I spun again, the flat of my sword smacking the back of her head, knocking her unconscious for a bit. I heard Weiss and Blake yell and charge me. I used my semblance to get behind them and knock both of them down, tying them up with Blake's ribbon, leaving her cat ears exposed.

"Do you yield?" I panted to them. They both glared at me, but nodded. I released them both then went over to Ruby. I sent her Aura back into her and it woke her up. She came up swinging, but I held her arms and said, "Whoa there girl, the fights over. You girls lost." She pouted as I said this, but nodded and moved to stand by her teammates. I stood there, panting and trying to compose myself. It was late in the afternoon and I was famished.

"What do you girls say to taking a break and grabbing some lunch?" Everybody nodded in agreement and started heading to the house. Everyone, that is, except for Yang. She was standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

"No wait just a minute. I still have a turn with you and I wanna take it while you're still in a groove." She then walked up to me and poked me in the chest and said, "Plus I owe you for roughing up my little sister." She stood there, staring at me, waiting for me to answer.

I sighed and said, "Ok, fine. Let's go ahead and do this then." We each took our positions and readied ourselves. Yang swung her arms and great gauntlet formed from her bracelets. They were gigantic and I could see I single gun barrel poking out from between her first and second knuckles on each hand. I cocked an eyebrow and decided to match her fighting style.

As I pulled my weapons, I willed them to take on the shape of my original weapons, my own clawed gauntlets. Yang saw them and whistled in appreciation. She nodded to me and I nodded back. Before Jack had a chance to tell us start, we launched ourselves at each other. The fight was fast paced and fierce. Each of us trading blow after blow. Each of us gave it our all, neither of us giving an inch.

I could see on her face she was thinking during our whole fight, planning her moves as she tried to pummel me into the ground. "There is more to this girl than just her looks and her strength," I thought to myself. "She is smart, she is cunning, and she is able to plan even as she battles." I couldn't help but finding my impressed by this young blond brawler.

My thoughts were interrupted as I saw a thought cross her eyes and it caused her to smile. "What's she planning," I thought to myself, excited despite myself, eager to see what she would throw at me. I was prepared for just about any kind of attack she could throw at me. At least, I thought I was until she did attack.

She made her gauntlets shrink back to their passive state and moved behind me. Before I could react, she had jumped up onto my shoulders. She wrapped her legs around my head and blinded me. (Hmm, so strong and hot, yet so soft and attractive). Before I had a chance to figure out where that thought came from, I felt her start to scratch at a spot on the back of my wolf ears.

This caused a great jolt of electricity go through my body. "What the hell?" I thought before she started giving the same treatment to both of my ears, scratching both of them quickly and tickling them relentlessly. I dropped to my knees, trying to grab her legs to pull her off of me, but she locked her ankles together and wouldn't let me pull her off of me.

I was grunting and trying to get free, but I was quickly losing my resolve. After another moment I finally gave in to it and just fell to the ground, belly first. My eyes were glassy and my wolf tail was wagging vigorously. And my leg. My cursed, traitorous leg was kicking in pure enjoyment at the touch of this woman's hand playing with my ears.

She leaned down and whispered into my ear, "Do you yield?" Her breath was hot and fast, almost as if she enjoyed what was happening as I did. I could smell her breath, an intoxication mixture of coffee, pancakes and orange juice. I found myself within half a second of reaching around and pulling her to me, wanting to taste that which was causing those delicious smells that tormented me so. But I snapped out of it at the last minute and buried my face in the ground.

"I yield," I quietly muttered. I felt her weight get off of me and she moved to stand in front of me. I glared at her and said, "That was fighting dirty. How'd you even know that would work?" She smiled at me and said, "I've tried it out a couple of times on Blake when she wasn't paying attention. It had about the same effect on her as it did you." She was grinning shamelessly as she turned back to her comrades. "Now, who's hungry?" Everyone was staring at her, not being able to believe that she had bested the man who had dispatched them all.

As they all headed to the house, Yang and Jaune held back, making sure that I was ok, as I hadn't gotten off of my stomach yet. "Hey Grun, you ok there brother?" Jaune asked, with worry on his face.

"Doing just fine, Jaune, thanks for asking. Just had something **come up** and I'm trying to deal with it now." This caused Yang to burst out laughing at the terrible, and dirty, pun I had made. Yang started walking to the house, a bit more of a sway in her hips than there was before. She was about twenty feet away when she looked back at me to see if I was watching. Seeing that I was she swayed her hips a little more as she went to the house.

Jaune finally caught on to what was going on when he saw me squirming, trying to adjust myself. "What a minute, are you saying that Yang playing with your ears gave you an er-" I interrupted him by saying, "Jaune, I suggest you go to the house before I become inclined to tell Pyrrha what you keep in the secret compartment behind the painting in your room." This caused Jaune to blush once more and he sprinted back to the house.

It took me a full ten minutes to get my heart to calm down, among other things. When I felt comfortable, I stood up and dusted myself off. I replayed what had happened in my head. It was in part to my ears being fondled, as they are extremely sensitive, but it was more than that. Something in that girl, with her beauty, her battle prowess, her quick wit and her sharp mind and her complete disregard of her safety when she was fighting for something she cared about, namely her sister. Something in this girl…no if I'm to be fair, this young woman had stirred something in me I thought had died years ago, on that fateful night.

I finally admitted it, though I didn't want to. She reminded me so much of my Arianna. But it was more than that. I felt something in her, something that I wanted to protect, though I couldn't name why. As I walked towards the house and fell into my thoughts, I muttered to myself, "By Dust I think that blond brawler has stolen my heart. How do you like that?" In the back of my mind I could hear Leere and Blitz laughing, followed by Macht saying, "It's about time, Boss. It's about damn time." I mentally told my teammates to shove it and walked into the house, looking to join my friends.

A mile down the road, at the top of a hill looking at the Ark estate, I tall, red haired Faunus looked down at the door through a pair of binoculars, as Grun walked into the Ark home. As he pulled down the binoculars, he exposed his great white Grimm mask that covered the top half of his face. He ran his fingers through his hair, quickly showing his horns before they fell back into place and covered them,

"I have finally found you," he said to himself. "After all these years, I have finally found you, big brother."

~End of Chapter 6.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A few hours after the sparring matches **_

"Hey Daddy?" Emma asked while looking at me. "Yes baby girl, what is it?" I responded, while I was taking a sip of my drink. We were all cooling down after our work out and finishing dinner.

"Are you going to get married to Ms. Yang?" Emma asked me earnestly. I choked on my drink and spat half of it across the table, unwittingly covering Jaune from the neck up with green tea. He glared at me while Pyrrha started to wipe him off with a napkin, a smile on her face. As I started coughing and trying to get myself under control, Erin joined her sister in staring at me, waiting for my answer.

"Wha-*COUGH COUGH*- what has you asking such a question, Emma?! We aren't even together and I hardly know her! Besides, you are way too young to be asking such things" I sputtered out between coughs. Both of my children looked at each other and then back at me. Erin responded this time.

"But Grandma and Grandpa said that watching you and her interact, especially when you were sparring, was just like how you and Momma used to act around each other when you were younger." I was starting to get my breathing under control and I turned to glare at Mr. and Mrs. Ark. They smiled back at me completely unashamed. I growled quiet curses at them and turned back to my children, both of them with looks of excitement on their faces.

"Kids, look," I sighed. "I'm not marrying Yang. For one, she's almost ten years younger than me. For two, I've only known her for a couple of days, and I don't know her that well anyway. And for three, why am I having this conversation with you two? You're too young to even fully understand what marriage is."

This caused both of them to frown and look down. Feeling certain that the conversation was done, I started drinking again trying to sooth my throat. "Where is this coming from?" I thought to myself. "Why would they even think of me being with somebody other than their mother?"

"For one," Emma started, "She is only a year at most younger than when you and Momma got married. For two, it doesn't matter how long you've known somebody as long as you love them. And three, marriage is when you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody you love with all your heart. You want to hold their hands and kiss them and raise babies together with them."

This caused me to choke for a second time, covering Jaune once again, to his shouts of, "Oh Come on!" This round of choking lasted a lot longer and was accompanied to me blushing fiercely. I felt somebody walk up behind me and start gently smacking my back, trying to help me get myself under control. I turned to look up at Yang, smiling widely and laughing quietly.

After I got myself under control again, I muttered lowly, "I see that you got your mother's brains, as well as her straight forward attitude." I looked at Yang and muttered a quiet "Thanks." She smiled again and sat down right next to me, propping her chin on her knuckles and saying to me, "Not a problem. Now don't you have an answer for your children?" Sweet Dust this woman is encouraging them! I shoot her a glare and she answers with a wider smile, completely unashamed. I shake my head and turn back to my kids again.

"Look," I say with a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. "Yang and I are not getting married. There's more to it than you kids seem to think and I'm not talking about this anymore. I am extremely uncomfortable with it." I stand and walk off, leaving everyone at the table to laugh at my discomfort. I ignore them and head up to the room I was using. I close the door and sigh heavily.

"You're kids are growing up, Boss. They are going to start asking questions like this. So you might want to start thinking up answers to them." I look over to my full length mirror to see Blitz sitting on my bed, grinning like a damn fool. Macht and Leere were standing on either side of him, looking at me and nodding, both of them grinning as well.

"Trust me, Blitz," I responded, "I am fully aware of that fact. I just didn't expect them to throw that at me out of the blue. Why would they want me to get married anyway? They hardly see me."

Leere answered this question with, "They just want to see their Daddy happy. They might not know exactly what the cause is, but they understand that you not being with your wife is painful for you, and that it's also why you asked her parents to watch over them in your stead. They want you to be happy again and they want to be a family again."

Hearing this felt like being stabbed in the chest with ice. "I know," I say. "I wish I could be a better parent to them than I have been. But I failed them the night I let their mother die. They deserve a father who can take care of them instead of one who has to drink himself into a stupor just to be able to sleep through the night." I sigh heavily as I move over and sit on my bed.

Macht put his arm on my shoulders, though I couldn't feel it. He said, "You are a great Dad, Grun. And you didn't fail anybody, you were betrayed. There wasn't anything you could've done differently that would've changed it."

"I could've left the White Fang long before any of it ever happened." I retorted. This caused Macht to shake his head and say, "We both know that you wouldn't have left the White Fang willingly. You were doing good things there, trying to bring human and Faunus together. How could you have known that some of them thought there was a different way to go about it?"

"Boss, you have got to stop beating yourself up over this." Blitz said. "This life is killing you by inches and if you don't pull out of it, your kids are going to be without either parent." I cringed at hearing this and stared at my comrade. "That was a low blow," I said to him. He responded with, "It was meant to be. You have a chance to be happy again. To have a life with your kids again. Don't you want that?"

I rose up from the bed screaming, "Of course I want that! Do you think I enjoy being away from my children? They are the most important thing in the world to me and I would do whatever it takes to make sure they are happy and safe!" Blitz looked up at me and quietly asked, "Even give up your vendetta and move on with your life?" This stopped me in my tracks, as I stared at him, dumbfounded.

Macht stood by his brother and nodded. "He has a point, Grun. You need to let go and be with your children. Remember what you told Pyrrha about not knowing how much time you have to spend with your loved ones? The same applies to your kids, not just your spouse." Leere nodded and took her husband's hand. "We've been blessed with being able to stay with you and each other. It doesn't matter to us that we don't have our bodies, as long as we have each other, that's all we need."

I shook my head and sat in a chair. I ran my fingers through my hair, not knowing what to say. My thoughts were interrupted by Yang bursting through my door, looking worried. Seeing me sitting in my chair, she rushed to my side. "Grun, are you ok? I was coming to talk to you, then I heard you yelling. Who were you yelling at?" I froze in place, not sure how to respond. I didn't want to lie to her, but I didn't know if I could tell her the truth. Something in my eyes betrayed my thoughts, because Yang looked at me and said, "You're hiding something. What's wrong?"

I stared at her, not believing what I was seeing. She was treating me like a friend, somebody who was a complete stranger to her just days ago. She was genuinely concerned for my well being, not a drop of darkness tainted her words. I sighed again and said, "I'll tell you, but please, go close the door. I'm not ready for the others to hear this." She looked unsure at first, but she then nodded and went to shut the door. She locked it and turned to see me standing before my mirror. I motioned her over and she came to stand by my side.

"Do you remember when Jaune brought up my 'Reserve Aura' during our sparring matches?" I asked her. She nodded, nervous and curious at the same time. "What Jaune called it isn't exactly the truth. I don't have extra reserves of Aura to call upon; I have four separate Auras inside my body." I turned to see her staring at me, confusion on her face. "Give me your hand," I asked her gently. She gave me her hand without protest. I poured a tiny amount of my Aura into her and pointed her back towards the mirror.

She was confused at first, not understanding right away. But then she noticed the three other people standing before the bed, smiling at us. She whirled around quickly to see nobody there, then turned back to see them waving at her. She looked at me and said, "How is this possible? Who are those people? Why can we only see them in the mirror?"

I turned to face her and said, "They are my teammates; Macht, Blitz and Leere. When we were younger, we made up Team GMBL." I guided her over to the bed and sat us both down. "Not long after my wife and I got married, we all went out hunting together to catch up and blow off some steam together. But we were ambushed by a massive group of Grimm. I was injured and Arianna and Leere had to heal me. After I was healed, I flew into the fight, trying to kill as many of them as possible for putting my team in danger. I told them to run while I kept the Grimm busy. They didn't want to leave me alone, but I told them they needed to protect Arianna."

I shook my head and turned away from Yang to look in the mirror, looking at my team as tears fell from my eyes. "My pride and anger blinded me to other dangers. As they ran, they were stacked by a giant Nevermore. As I was catching up to them I saw it attack them. I killed it, but it was too late. It had pinned my team to the ground with its feathers. My team lay on the ground, broken and dying, having not tried to escape so that Arianna could get to safety. I could feel their lives fading and I had a desperate idea. I used my Semblance."

She didn't understand at first, but then her eyes widened. She whispered, "Manipulate, Assimilate,…and Absorb." I nodded, tears streaming down my face. "I took all of their Aura's into my own body, pulling their souls into mine. Ever since that day, they have been a part of me, always having my back, always at my side." I smiled at them and said, "And more often than not they are major pains in my ass, trying to convince me to do something for my own good and happiness."

Blitz smiled back at me and said, "Somebody's gotta worry about you, Boss. Since it's obvious you aren't going to do it." Macht and Leere both nodded in agreement. This caused Yang to giggle. I looked at her and said, "You are taking this surprisingly well. This doesn't freak you out?" She turned back to me and shook her head. "Not at all, you did what you had to do to save your friends and teammates. I would've done the same thing in your place."

I shook my head and said, "But I was the reason it happened to them to begin with. If I hadn't let my emotions get the better of me I could've…" She interrupted by saying, "Not sending the Nevermore after them?" I stared at her, taken aback by what she said. "I…I…"

She took my hand and gently said, "Had nothing to do with that Grimm attacking them. And judging by the looks on your teams faces, they don't blame you or hate you for what happened." Blitz muttered, "We've been telling him that for years now." Leere and Macht both reached over and slapped the back of his head. "OW! Well we have….."

Yang smiled and said, "See? Why do you blame yourself when they don't? You need to let the pain go and live your life now. You can't hold onto the past if you expect to live in the present." She sat there, looking up into my eyes. I was staring into hers, "They are such a beautiful shade of Lilac," I thought to myself. "You could get lost staring into them." I could feel her breath on my lips as she moved closer to me. This snapped me out of my thoughts, realizing just how close she was to me.

I leapt away from her and slammed my forehead into the nearby wall. I stood there for a moment as I calmed down, then turned back to look at her. She looked hurt and was pouting at me. "Why did you do that? Didn't you want to kiss me?" I looked down at the floor and blushed. I softly responded with, "Of course I wanted to. And that's the problem." She looked at me confused. I sighed and said, "I'm old enough to be your father. You're only 17 for Dust's sake!" At this she smiled and said, "Actually, I just turned 18 today. And you're barely old enough to be my big brother." She stood up and walked over to me, staring into my eyes. "Besides, I noticed what happened during our sparring match, so it's obvious you are interested, at least a little bit."

This caused me to blush and look away from her. She reached up and grabbed my chin, turning me back to look at her. "Look me in the eye and tell me you have absolutely no interest in me and I will walk out that door right now." I looked at her, wanting to tell her I didn't want her, wanting to cut it off then and now. But looking into her beautiful eyes, filled with hope and honesty. I sighed and looked away from her again, not being able to stand her gaze knowing that she was right.

She smiled and let my chin go. "So, where does that leave us?" I looked at her and quietly said, "Why would you want an old failure like me? I already got my team and my wife killed. Why would you want to be with a man who can't even protect his loved ones?" Her answer was sharp, concise and to the point. She slapped the hell out of me and put me on my ass. I held onto my cheek and looked up at her, shocked at what she'd done.

She crouched down to look me in the eyes again. "You are not a failure. You did not get your loved ones killed." She said sternly. "And as for why, I've been watching you all weekend and I've discovered a couple of things. One, you have a capacity to love that I haven't seen in many people. You are willing to do whatever it takes to help your friends and family. Two, your children obviously mean the world to you. You have been doing everything you can to make sure they are happy and cared for. I saw you hand Jack that envelope of money." This caused me to blush profusely. She smiled at my discomfort.

"Three, you are honest. You have been open and straight forward to all of us since you met us. You didn't have to tell us all those things you shared with us, but you trusted us enough to share with us. That means a lot to us. To me." She stepped forward and grabbed my hand to pull me to my feet. After I got to my feet, she held onto my hand, smiling at me, completely unashamed. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to pull my hand from hers.

She stepped forward and laced her fingers into mine, looking right at me and said, "So…?" I couldn't believe what was happening, this beautiful young woman, whom I had met not long ago, was asking me if I wanted to be with her. I was stunned at the whole situation. I stuttered out, "Yo-you know all of these things about me, including my team living in my head, and you still want to be with this old fail-" I stopped when I saw her eyes flash red for a moment. "This old bag of bones? Why?"

Her eyes turned back to their normal shade of Violet. She said to me, "My dad has lost two wives. My mother disappeared and Ruby's mother was killed trying to save a group of people from Grimm. I've seen how the pain has torn him apart over the years." I started at hearing this. I had no idea that she had gone through that.

I still tried to get her to rethink it. "You've already met my kids. Are you really willing to commit to a man who has two kids? Because I'm not going to get their hopes up about having a woman in my life just to disappoint them when she changes her mind."

She smiled and said, "After Ruby's mom died I helped dad raise Ruby. I love kids and I'm used to being a mom. I'd be more than happy to be a mommy to your kids. I already love them anyway. They are so sweet, and honest and smart."

I smiled at this and nodded. "Yeah, they got most of that from their mother." I looked at her again and sighed. I squeezed her hand and said, "I don't know. I don't know if I'm ready to jump back into a relationship. It still hurts thinking of Arianna." She looked at me and said, "If it didn't hurt I would be concerned and want nothing to do with you. The hurt means that you can still love and you're still yourself. I'm willing to take it slow, see where it goes, if you don't want to rush it." She looked at me and smiled, hopeful and patient.

I groaned inwardly and shook my head. "By god she's just as stubborn as Arianna." I knew that she wasn't going to let this go. And I had to admit I was at least a little bit interested in her. I squeezed her hand again and said, "Ok. If you can be patient with me and let me try to figure this out, I guess I can give us a chance." She smiled widely at me, her eyes sparkling as she stepped up to me and planted a kiss on my lips. My eyes went wide and I was shocked at first. But I slowly closed my eyes and returned the kiss, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against me.

I heard the door to my room open and somebody ask, "Yang did you find out what-…YANG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I broke away from the kiss to look over at the door, seeing both teams RWBY and JNPR standing in the doorway, staring at Yang and I making out. Yang looked over at her friends and said lazily, "What? I was just celebrating my relationship with my new boyfriend."

Both the teams looked at us, our arms wrapped around each other. I was blushing a deep hue of scarlet while Yang was smiling shamelessly, her lips still moist from our kiss. Jaune was the first to break out of his surprise, breaking into a huge smile and saying, "I'm happy for you two. Grun deserves to be happy. But remember Yang, he is still my brother and you better treat him right."

Yang smiled and reached up to pat my cheek, saying "Don't worry about that Jaune. I know how to treat my man." She turned to face her friends and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. I squeezed it back, but I couldn't bring myself to look at the teams. Dear Dust, I feel like a teenager again. "Guys, please, don't tell Emma and Erin about this. I already had a very uncomfortable conversation with them about marriage and I don't want it brought back up, ok?"

The teams looked at each other, not sure how to respond. Again, Jaune broke the silence. "I understand Grun. We'll keep it to ourselves until you're ready to tell them. But you know that they would be happy for you two. They already love Yang, anyone can see that." I shook my head and said, "I know Jaune, but please, just humor me for now." Jaune nodded and so did everyone else.

"Well," Yang said while kissing me on the cheek. "Let's head back downstairs before the others start to worry." She started tugging on my hand and headed to the door, happy and proud. The others turned and headed back down stairs. I gently tugged on her hand in an attempt to slow her down. She did and looked at me, questioning me. "I know I don't have to ask, but I just want to be sure, you aren't going to tell the rest of them about…." I gently tapped my temple with my finger.

She smiled and gently kissed me on the lips before saying, "Don't worry, babe. I won't tell anybody. I promise. Now come on, lets go." We headed downstairs to find Mr. and Mrs. Ark, as well as their daughters waiting for us and smiling. I started to blush again as Jack pulled me into a hug, while Jeanne did the same to Yang. "I'm happy for you son. It's about time you started living again." Jeanne asked Yang, "You will take care of our son for us, won't you?" Yang smiled at her and said, "Of course." She hugged Jeanne back and then stood back at my side, looping her arm into mine.

"Please guys," I said again. "Don't tell Emma and Erin right now. I don't want to have that conversation with them again." They both smiled mischievously but nodded in agreement. The girls all looked at us and asked, "Does this mean we have a new sister now?" I said, "Now hold on gang. We just started dating. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." This caused them to fall into fits of laughter.

A few hours later, it was time for us to leave. The kids were disappointed to see me go, but they understood that I had work in the morning. "You'll come see us soon, won't you Daddy?" They both asked me, unshed tears in their eyes. I was close to crying myself and I said, "Of course, my darlings. I'll come to see you two again as soon as I can." I pulled them close and hugged them both tightly, and they returned the hugs just as fiercely.

They turned to Yang and said, "Please take care of our Daddy for us, Ms. Yang. We hope you can make him happy for us." Yang and I both blushed and stared at my children, not sure of what to say. They smiled at me and said, "Daddy, you are about as discreet as Jaune in his onesie. We could tell something was up by the way you two kept looking at each other."

I shook my head in disbelief and laughed, "You two are definitely your mother's children. Too darn smart for your own good. Why didn't you say-" I was interrupted by Yang pulling me against her and kissing me fiercely. She pulled back after about twenty seconds and smiled at me. "I'm glad I could finally do that now that we don't need to hide it." She smiled and started leading me towards my jeep.

Everyone was waving goodbye as we drove off, Team RWBY and myself in my jeep and Team JNPR in a four door car that Pyrrha was driving. I agreed to take the girls to Beacon since it would be so late when we got back. As the rest of the team walked towards their dorm, Yang stayed by my side, holding my hand. She turned to me and kissed me deeply, which I responded with returning just as deeply. When she pulled away, her breath was short and her eyes were glazed.

"Meet me here by the fountain tomorrow after your shift is over. I want to go on a date after classes." She looked at me, smiling sweetly at me. I sighed and said "Alright, alright. Turn off the charm, babe." She leaned up to kiss me again, gently brushing her chest against me. She smiled, knowing what she had done and started towards the dorm to join her team.

I walked back to my jeep and headed back to my apartment at the bar. It was quiet tonight, with most of the guys having to report to work in the morning. Bull was behind the counter, wiping it down. He looked up at me as I entered and said, "Welcome back."

I replied with, "Thanks boss. You do alright without me?" He nodded and went back to cleaning. As I walked by to go upstairs, I heard him sniff loudly and grunt. "You smell like a woman. Have a fun weekend?" I blushed and continued up the stairs to me apartment. I could hear Bull chuckling to himself as I closed my door. I kicked my shoes off and took off my clothes and light armor, setting them on a chair so they didn't get messed up. As I sat on my bed, I looked up to see my team grinning at me happily.

"What?" I snapped at them. They kept smiling and Blitz said "We're just happy for you boss. You found yourself a great woman." Macht and Leere both nodded in agreement. I sighed and said, "Thanks guys. I appreciate it. What the hell happened? I go to my kids' birthday party and come back with a girlfriend?" Blitz just shrugged and said, "These things happen. Can't control them even if you want to." I nodded and looked at him. "It's easy to forget, Blitz," I said, "That you were a philosopher in school, what with your goofy attitude." This made him smile and say, "I just love messing with people's heads."

I laid down on my bed and started drifting off to sleep. My last thought before I passed out was of Yang and her beautiful eyes.

_**The next day**_

I'm standing in front of the fountain that Yang told me about, my arms crossed and my foot tapping, wanting her to hurry up because people were staring at me, wondering what a guy my age was doing at their school. I sighed and sat on the edge of the fountain and looked around, taking in the scenery. "This really is a beautiful school," I say to myself. "It hasn't changed at all since I attended here. I wonder how everybody from my classes are doing?"

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud round of laughter from a group of boys who were bullying a young rabbit Faunus. This irritated me greatly, so I stood and walked over to them. The leader saw me as I stepped up behind the girl, my head about a foot over hers. She turned to me and squeaked, thinking I was going to mess with her too. I smiled down at her reassuringly and took off the green bandana I used to cover my ears, letting the stand up tall, while my tail worked free to swing behind me.

I looked at the boys and said, "Hello gentlemen. I couldn't help but notice how you were treating my young friend here." I placed my hand on her shoulder and moved her behind me. "So tell me, why were you picking on her?"

The other three boys looked away from me, but the tallest, apparently the leader of the group, and stood right in front of me, challenging me. "Because she's a filthy Faunus and she doesn't deserve to be in this school. Everyone knows that Faunus are stupid animals." He looked right at me and grinned, hoping I would swing at him.

I smiled right back and said, "Now that is an interesting theory. Let's test it, shall we? Tell me young man, have you ever considered gravities true effects on a person's body?" The tall boy looked confused, but I placed my hands on his shoulders and continued, "You see, the normal gravitational pull we feel every day is considered 1G. It holds us to the ground and keeps us from flying off. But have you ever wondered what would happen if it were to increase to just 1.1G?" As I said this, I borrowed Blitz's semblance and increased the gravity around the boy, which instantly caused him to shake at the strain of the sudden extra weight on his body.

"For that matter," I went on, "What about 1.2?" I turned it up another click, causing him to hunch over, fighting the gravity, tying to stay up. "Or 1.3?" This took him down to one knee, the weight getting to be too much. "And what about even greater? 2G?" This put him down on his stomach, groaning at the pain. "3G?" It was starting to have a visible effect on him, he was howling in pain as his internal organs threatened to give. I relented and returned the gravity to normal.

He slowly got up and glared at me, anger clear on his face. I smiled wider and said, "And the trued fascinating thing about gravity? It has just as many interesting effects when it is lessened as well." As I said this, I reduced the gravity effecting him to ¾ of what it was. At first he didn't notice anything major, so he threw a punch at me. I caught it easily, as it had less weight behind it and flipped him over, causing him to rotated a full circle before hitting the ground.

"Now let's see how that plays out at ½." I said and did it again. He charged me and I tripped him up, then flipped him again. He did two full cartwheels before falling this time. "And now, just for fun, 0GS." I said with a huge grin. As soon as it hit him, he started floating in the air, no longer having anything to hold him down. He started to flail and screaming. I walked up to him and grinned widely.

"Now I could very easily leave you as you are and let you float up out of the atmosphere, where you will learn a very important answer, when exposed to high altitude situations, which do you think would happen first: Your blood freezing in your veins, or you longs collapsing in on themselves from lack of an atmosphere to support them?"

The boy was crying now, openly weeping when he saw the coldness in my eyes, knowing that I would leave him to such a fate without a second thought. "Please, please I'm sorry!" He wept. "I won't mess with her again, I swear!" I shook my head, "That's not good enough. You are to never speak to any Faunus again. If I hear you ever torment somebody again, I will hunt you down, and crush you like an ant, do you understand me?"

He is nodding violently and screaming yes. So I return him to normal and drop him on the ground, as he had floated up about six feet in the air. He hit with an audible thump and coughed. I looked to his friends and said, "I suggest you take him and leave before I stop feeling so generous and start wondering how familiar you boys are with electrical currents and their effects on different parts of your anatomy." They all nodded, obviously frightened and grab their friend and run. I turn back to the young Faunus and smile at her.

"There," I say to her. "I don't think that they will bother you anymore." She looks at me and smiles weakly at me. I can tell she is afraid of me, and honestly I don't blame her. But she smiles a little brighter and says to me, "Thank you. My name is Velvet." I respond with "Nice to meet you, my name is…"

"GRUUUUN!" I am interrupted by Yang leaping at me and wrapping her arms around my neck, covering my cheeks and lips with kisses. I start blushing and try to peel her off of me, saying, "By Dust, Yang, how is this, 'taking it slow?'" She smiles at me sweetly and leans back up to me. I sigh and relent, returning her kiss. We are interrupted by a cough. We look to see Velvet blushing and staring at us.

"Oh," Yang says, "Hey Velvet, what's up?" She lets go of my neck and holds my hand, smiling at Velvet. Velvet looks at us and says, "Yang, you know this guy?" Yang smiles and says, "Ya, this is my boyfriend, Grun." Velvet goes wide eyed, "Boyfriend? I didn't know you had a boyfriend." Yang shrugs and says, "We just started dating yesterday, in all honesty. So how do you know him?"

Velvet looks at her and says, "Well he just saved me from Cardin and his gang." Yang gets irritated and curses. "CRDL, I should've known they were messing with you. Wait, what do you mean, saved?" She looks at me, waiting for me to answer. I smile and say, "I simply showed him that hating somebody just because they were different can be just as harmful to you as it is to them." She looks from me to Velvet, who says, "He about flattened him like a pancake and then threatened to send him out of the atmosphere if he didn't leave me alone."

Yang whistled at this and then turned to plant a kiss on my cheek. "A little extreme there, don't you think?" I shrugged and said, "There are very few things that upset me more than hate for the sake of hate. It's stupid and a waste of everybody's time. Now, don't we have somewhere to be, darling?"

Yang smiles and nods. She tells Velvet that she'll see her later than we head off towards the entrance. Before we get there, though, we are stopped by a teacher. A blond woman around my age, her blond hair done up in a severe bun, with a riding crop in her hands. There is something oddly familiar about this woman, but I can't put my finger on it. She is glaring at Yang and I. "And where are you going, Ms. Xiao Long?"

Yang flinches and says, "Well Ms. Goodwich, my boyfriend and I were just on our way to a date." She looks to me smiling, but stops when she sees me sweating. "Oh gods, did she say Goodwich?!" I think to myself. I whisper to Yang, "Dear, is this woman's name Glynda Goodwich, by chance?" Yang responds by say, "Yes, do you know her?" My only response is, "Oh shit…" Glynda watches this, curious about what is going on.

As she focuses on me, I can see a nagging thought in her eyes, like she's trying to place my face. Then it clicks, and I see her face darken as she utters one word. "Grun…."

Yang starts to ask how she knows me, but is cut off when I pick her up and start sprinting away from where we were, as a crater had just formed where I was just standing. Yang is holding onto my neck for dear life, looking behind us to see her teacher give chase, shouting obscenities and swearing she is going to kill me when she catches me.

"Grun, what the hell is going on?!" Yang yells at me. "I've never seen Ms. Goodwich this pissed off before. What did you do to her?" I was running full tilt, dodging left and right as pieces of walkway and fountain started flying at me. In between pants, I say back, "I got her fiancé killed." Yang stares at me, waiting for me to elaborate. I sigh and say, "She and Macht had been dating since they were teenagers. They were great for each other, happiest couple you ever saw. Not long after Arianna and I got married, he popped the question to her. However, not long after that…well, you know. Now she hates my guts because I took the man she loves from her. I didn't realize she came back to teach here. She always hated school, said it cut into her time to be with Macht."

Before Yang can say anything to me, a large piece of a statue lands directly in front of me, making me skid to a halt. Before I can run, however, two slabs of concrete form a large barrier around me, boxing me in as one falls over top, preventing me from leaping out. The only way out was to head back the other way, and Glynda was standing at the entrance, waiting for me.

"Now hold on Glynda, I know you want to kill me, and I don't blame you, but please, you have got to let Yang go. She isn't involved in what I've done to wrong you. If you wish to punish me, I won't fight you, just don't hurt her." I stand in front of Yang, keeping myself between her and Glynda. I could feel Yang trying to push herself in front of me, trying to stand against Glynda by me, but I wasn't having it. Glynda started walking towards us, her riding crop pointed directly at me.

"You got Macht killed. You took him away from me. I hate you so much for this." She walked up and stood directly in front of me. As I looked at her, I saw a tear in her eye. "But I also know that you lost more than I did that day. You lost your team, your comrades. And after that, you lost your wife too." She was crying openly now, "It's because of that I can forgive you. You have suffered more than I could ever punish you."

I was happy with this, but Yang stepped around me, furious. "If you forgive him," She said angrily, "Why were you trying to kill him?!" Glynda looked at Yang and said, "First of all, don't take that tone with me, young lady. And second, I wasn't trying to kill Grun. I was trying to slow him down. I never would've been able to actually hit him, even if I wanted too. This little shit here is too damn fast for that."

She then looks between me and Yang and asks, "Also, did I hear you right, Ms. Xiao Long? Did you say that Grun here is your boyfriend?" Yang slowly nodded, not sure how to respond to her. "I see. And how long has this been going on?" I responded with, "Only since yesterday. She decided she wanted to be with me after we spent some time at Emma and Erin's birthday party. Today was going to be our first date."

Glynda nodded her head and said, "And you are of age, correct?" Yang nodded again. Glynda sighs and says, "Very well, I suppose if you know what you are doing, I have no right to stop you. Just be sure you be careful around him. He is a wolf, after all." She then walked off and started fixing the damage she had caused, waving her crop back and forth, sending pieces back where they belonged. Yang and I look at each other for a moment. I smile and say, "Now that was a weird way to start a date." Yang smile back and rubs her fingers across my stomach, saying, "Yeah, she really had us between a rock and a hard place." I chuckle at this and lean down to kiss her. She returns the kiss passionately, and then takes me back towards the entrance, heading out for our interrupted date.

"So," I say as we head out, "What did you have in mind?" She simply smiled and said, "You'll see" I ponder on this for a while, not sure what she was going to do until we stopped in front a particular shop. I look up and read the sign, a slow blush building across my face. "Now hold on a second…." That is all I have time to get out before Yang drags me inside of "Little Letty's Lady's Wear".

_**Half hour later at café.**_

"Did you have to try on all of those bikinis?" I mutter into my coffee. "I'm pretty sure Letty was about to kick us out." Yang is smiling shamelessly at me, moving the bag at her foot with her toes, "Are you saying you didn't want to see me wearing all of those things for you?" She winks at me and licks some coffee from her lips. I smile at her and say, "Of course I wanted to see you in them. I just would've preferred it was when we were alone, not in the middle of the store." She giggles and says, "All you had to do was come into the changing room with me like I said…."

I shake my head and laugh happily. "You really don't know what, 'Taking it slow' means, do you?" I start drinking my coffee, when she says, "Of course I do. I haven't slipped under this table so that I could sit next to you and feel you up, have I?" I damn near spit my coffee all over the table, but I keep it in, swallowing hard and coughing. She smiles again and stares at me, unmasked lust in her eyes. "The fact I haven't done it yet speaks volumes about my wanting to respect your wishes."

I blush again and focus on my coffee. I almost jump out of my seat when I feel an ankle brushing against my leg, slowly rubbing up my leg. "Yang, quit it." I say. "Not in public." I can see a hunger in her eyes as she purrs, "Then take me somewhere private. I've got something special in this bag I haven't shown you yet. And it's even better than the bikinis."

I look at her slackjawed, not believing what I was hearing. "Yang, please, you are making it really hard for me to control myself." This made her laugh low and throaty, sending a shiver through me, and said, "Well l would hope so. I don't want you controlling yourself. I want you controlling me." I start to growl low in my throat when I see her slowly tease her shirt collar down, exposing just a hint of her cleavage.

"I'm not sure I can take much more of this," I think to myself. Out loud I growl, "Where?" This sends a chill through her body, as she slowly smiles and says, "Take me to your place. I don't want to be interrupted." I throw some Lien on the table and grab up her bags in one hand and throw her over my shoulder with the other, causing her to squeal with delight. When we get to my jeep, I toss the bags into the back seat and set her on the passenger seat, barely restraining myself from mounting her then and there when I see how long and smooth her legs are. But she's right, we don't want to be disturbed.

As I climb into the driver side, I crank the jeep to life, slamming through the gears, trying to get there as fast as I could, unbridled lust filling my head and guiding my hands. The entire trip, Yang is trying to kill us, gently nibbling on my ear and neck. I growl even louder and say, "Damn it girl, I'm trying to concentrate here. I don't want to wrap this thing around a light pole." She simply smiles and sits back in her seat, leaving a hand on my leg so she can draw small circles on my thigh.

I finally got the car to the tavern. Yang was already out of the Jeep with her bags in hand. When I got out she grabbed hold of my hand and started pulling me inside. It was quiet in the tavern, with only Bull behind the bar. He looked up at me and said, "Hey Grun, can you help me with something?" I stopped and looked at him for a second. Before I had a chance to say anything, Yang pulled me along again and said, "Sorry, he's mine for right now. He can help you later." Bull looked confused for a moment, then he caught on. He smiled and nodded, responding with, "Take your time."

When we got to my room, I barely had the door closed before she had me pressed up against it, kissing my lips roughly. Her arms were around my neck, the bags forgotten on the floor. As she wraps her leg around my waist, I reach behind her and place my hands under her firm backside, lifting her up and resting her on my hips and start carrying her to my bed. She giggles against my lips and holds on tightly.

When we get to my bed, I lean down, so that I have her on the bed. But she twists as we fall and rolls me onto my back. I look up at her shocked, not expecting her to take the lead like that. I silently berate myself. "Of course she wants to take charge, you great fool. She's been wanting to have this kind of control from the get go." My thoughts are interrupted as she leans down to kiss me again, rubbing her ample chest against me as she does.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this sensation when I hear her yelp in pain. "Ow," She says, "Something jabbed me. What do you have in there?" She reaches under my shirt and pulls out my necklace. The one that is holding my wedding band as well as… I couldn't have been taken out of the mood any faster than if somebody threw a bucket of ice down my back. I sit up and gently push Yang off of me, a look of obvious confusion on her face.

"Grun, what's the matter? Did I do something wrong?" She looks at me, fear and hurt in her eyes. I walk back over to her and smile, gently taking her into my arms. "No, you didn't do anything wrong, my dear. It was me who did something wrong. I started thinking about Arianna when I was here with you." She leans over against me and looks into my eyes, doubt and worry still apparent on her face. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to, Grun." I stare into her eyes and realize that she really does care for me, not just a young girls crush for a new boyfriend. When I think this thought, it was immediately followed by, "I think I actually do love this woman. How can I love her so deeply after such a short amount of time?"

Before I realize what I'm doing, I smile at Yang and say "I love you, Yang." When I see the look of shock and the blush on her face, I realize what I just said. I blush even more fiercely than she does and start stammering. "um, wait, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said…." I stop as she puts a finger to my lips and smiles at me.

"Did you mean that, Grun? Do you really love me?" I continue to blush. I don't trust myself to say anything so I simply nod. She smiles widely at me and says, "I'm so glad. I love you too, Grun." She leans to me and kisses me deeply. It doesn't have the heat as before, this kiss being so sweet and full of love.

Did I hear her right? She actually does love me? I pull away from the kiss and look at her, wanting to know. "What makes you so certain you love me? You hardly even know me."

She looks at me and pouts, making her look absolutely adorable. "I know plenty about you," she says to me. "I know that you are willing to go out of your way to help anybody who needs it, whether it's family, friends or complete strangers. You are a kind hearted, loving man who can't stand to see somebody being treated unfairly just because they are different. I know that you are a loving father and you absolutely adore your children. They are lucky to have a father like you, Grun. And I also know that you are the reason that Pyrrha and Jaune finally got together. I saw you give Pyrrha the push she needed to finally work up the courage to talk to Jaune about her feelings." She started to blush as she said, "And I also know that you are the first man to fight me to a stand still."

I tilt my head at her saying this and say, "Unless I'm forgetting about some other fight we had, the first time you knocked me out completely and tied me up, then you took me down during our sparring match." She smiles and shakes her head, saying, "The first time it was only because I got the drop on you. The match I only won by exploiting a low weakness and tickling you until you gave up. If I hadn't have done that, I'm pretty sure you would have beaten me." She reaches over and takes my hand.

"You are an amazing man, Grun, and I know that I love you like I've never loved anybody else before. I could ask you why you are sure you love me." She smiles at me, waiting for me to answer. Knowing that she won't let it go I sigh and say, "You are an amazing woman, Yang. You are so passionate; you are always trying to help the people you care about, even if you don't want them to acknowledge that you are helping them. Your capacity to love somebody is astonishing. You are so strong. You are one of only a handful of people who have bested me. You are so fun, you share my weird sense of humor, and you aren't afraid to be yourself."

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes, smiling. Until she looks back down and sees my necklace hanging out side my shirt. She reaches out and holds it in her hand, shaking slightly. "So where does this leave us, then?" She asks me. I look down at her and the rings. I reach behind my head and undo the clasp. I reach forward and put the necklace around her neck, clipping it together. She looks at it resting against her, shocked at what just happened.

"Grun, what are you doing? This is too important for you to give to me." I smile down at her and say, "I've already given you my heart. What could be more important than that?" She still can't believe what has happened, as she sits there fingering the rings. She looks at me again, before leaning up to kiss me again. She then takes the necklace off of her neck and sits it on the bedside table. I watch this, pain moving across my face.

"No Grun, I'm not saying I'm not taking them. Of course I'll take them. But I just don't want them to hurt either of us or get messed up during this next part." I look at her and say, "What next pa-" I'm interrupted by her jumping onto me again, kissing me passionately. She starts tearing my clothes off of me. Literally. My clothes are nothing more than a pile of shreds after she gets me undressed. She then slinks out of her clothes and I finally see her in all her glory. And it is glorious indeed. She has the body and face of a goddess. She leans down to kiss me again and pulls the covers over us.

~End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello there my lovelies, Nightengale here. I just wanted to start this chapter off by saying thank you so much for reading my fanfic. I'm really happy that you all decided to take the time to read my story. Every time I see that favorite, follow, or view column increase, I get excited, knowing that somebody enjoyed my writing. I wanted to tell you guys before I start; I was a little torn about this writing part of the story. At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a graphic love scene in this story. But then I thought, meh, what the hell. I've never written anything like it before; why not give it a shot? So I hope you guys enjoy it. Let me know what you guys think, I really love to hear your input. Oh by the way, in case anyone is wondering with my pen name, I'm a guy. And I'm happily married. Just in case anyone is curious. Ha-ha. Anyway, back to the story!**

Yang was sitting atop my stomach, pinning me down to my bed. She was kissing me fiercely, forcing her mouth against mine like she was trying to extinguish a fire on her lips. Her lips were so warm, and sweet. I could feel her fingers tracing the muscles on my chest, her finger tips slowly feeling every scar that crisscrossed under them. I ran my hands up and down her back, slowly feeling every inch of her smooth hot skin that I could reach. As she moved her hands down over my ribs, I laughed against her mouth, causing her to sit up and stare down at me, a smile on her face.

"Wait a minute, are you seriously ticklish?" She laughs low and moves back down to kiss my neck, gently licking and nipping at my neck and shoulders. I dragged my fingernails down her back along her spine. This caused her to shiver and moan into my neck. She grabbed onto me and rolled us over, pulling me on top of her. She wrapped her legs around me, trying to pull me into her. But I resisted, growling at her and saying, "No, no honey. I'm setting the pace right now. I said I wanted to take it slow and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take," I lean down to bite her neck, making her moan, "You," I bite her collar bone, causing her to arch her back and press against me, "Slowly." This time I gently grabbed her breasts and started to slowly kiss and lick her large breasts.

As I took one of her stiff nipples into my mouth, she moved one of her hands to her mouth and set her teeth against one of her fingers, trying to keep from moaning too loudly. Her other hand rested on my shoulder, digging her fingernails into me. I moved over to give her other nipple the same treatment, causing her to move her other hand to my back, scratching me as she moaned out my name.

I slowly trailed a line of soft kisses down her flat stomach, stopping to quickly slip my tongue into her belly button before continuing on down. When I reached her flower, I could smell her juices as they dripped from her. It smelled sweet, yet musky. It was intoxicating and I had to have more of it. I gently probed her sex with my tongue, slowly, torturously dragging my tongue up and down her folds. She tries to press herself against me, begging me to give her more. But I throw her legs up onto my shoulders, clamping my hands down on her hips and holding her in place.

"No," I growl up at her. "I said that I am setting the pace. You just lie there and enjoy what I am doing to you." I look up at her to see her nod as she says, "Yes" her voice a throaty whisper. As I bury my face back down into her heat, I reach up with one hand to play with one of her nipples, while I use my other hand to gently work a finger into her, and I use my tongue to circle and flick her clit, each movement of my tongue creating a new sound to escape her. I felt her place a hand on my head, tangling her fingers in my hair.

I keep kissing and licking her while I continue to pump a finger in and out of her, slowly coaxing a second finger into her. I can feel her beginning to twitch and buck under my attention, her cries of my name growing louder, telling me not to stop. "Oh gods, Grun," she gasps, "I'm going to-" She cuts off as she moans loudly and comes, her warm juices filling my mouth. I'm shocked at first by the amount, but I start to greedily lap up as much of it as I can, wanting to savor all of it. Her legs are locked around my head and I can't free myself for a full minute before she finally relaxes and falls back onto my bed.

"Oh Grun," she says breathlessly. "That was amazing. I've never felt anything like that before." I slowly stand up before her, gently wiping the excess juices from my lips. I smile down at her, satisfied with her reaction. She slowly sits up and looks into my eyes, seeing the desire for her in them. She then looks down at my waist and her eyes go wide, while her jaw drops slightly, staring at my erect member.

"What?" I ask her, concerned that there is something wrong. "Is something wrong? Did I do something?" Her response is to gently reach out and start stoking me, licking her lips and staring at it hungrily. She gently runs her fingers from the base all the way to the tip, before grasping it and gently pulling me to her.

"I am one lucky girl," she says with a smile on her face. "To think I'll get to claim one this big for my first time." This catches me off guard. "Wait, you're really a virgin?" She looks up at me and smiled while she kept stroking me, asking, "Is that so surprising? I wouldn't want to give my first to just anybody." I respond with, "No, that isn't surprising at all, my dear." She leans forward and starts licking me up and down my shaft, eliciting a loud groan of pleasure from me. She uses her other hand to start fondling me sack, gently rubbing my balls between her fingers.

She looks up at me, a smile painting her lips as she starts taking me into her mouth. She gets about halfway before she pulls back. She pulls me out and takes a deep breath, panting heavily. "Wow Grun," She says, "This is amazing. I never would have thought doing this would feel so good. I have to have more!" She starts bobbing her head back and forth on my manhood, trying to take in more of me with each stroke. I reach behind her head, slowly running my fingers through her soft mane of hair. "By gods," I think, "This is incredible. How did I find such an amazing woman?" I start to moan out load, feeling the end getting closer.

"Oh gods, Yang," I say out loud. "I'm going to come soon." She looks up at me again then closes her eyes and starts pumping faster, wanting me to finish. My mind starts to go fuzzy as I close my eyes, feeling myself about to finish. I try to pull out of her mouth so I can finish away from her, but she grabs my hips and takes me back into her mouth as I start to come, filling her mouth with my hot seed. She starts to drink up as much of it as she can, wanting to taste all of it.

She sucks on me, drawing the last of it out of me, before taking me out of her mouth. She looks up at me, a hurt look on her face. "Why did you try to point it away from me?" She asks me. "I wanted to taste all of you." I looked down at her, panting heavily. "I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't know you wanted that. I didn't want to just pour it into your mouth without asking first. And it didn't really seem like something to ask in the middle of our fun." I smile at her and she smiles back.

"Now for the best part," She says while she licks her lips and rubs her thighs together, her juices slipping between them. She gently pulls me down on top of her and wrapped her legs around me, coaxing me to enter her. I press myself against her, slowly inserting myself into her. Every motion I make as I enter her causes a fresh tremor to shake her body, her moans getting louder every time. I stop moving when I feel resistance, knowing what I was pressed against.

She opens her eyes and stares at me, her eyes glassy and her hair soaked with sweat. "What's wrong? Why'd you stop?" She asks me, her voice barely above a whisper. I bite my lip, uncertain myself. "I don't want to hurt you, my love." She rolls her eyes and squeezes her legs against my back, forcing me completely into her, causing her to cry out, pain and pleasure tearing at her voice.

I hold still, not wanting to continue until she was ready. After several moments she opens her eyes to look at me while she says, "OK, I'm ready. You can move now." I slowly start to slide in and out of her, pulling out until just my tip was inside her before gently pushing myself back in, going all the way to my base. Each stroke causes her legs to spasm and clench against me, and I can feel her feet flatten against my butt, her toes curling each time I enter her completely.

She moans louder and louder as I start picking up the pace, the need to please her building with each passing moment. She starts thrusting herself into me, wanting more contact and more force. I start pumping faster, matching her ferocity. I reach up and start massaging her bouncing breasts, gently flicking her nipples with my thumbs. She leans up and wraps her arms around my neck, grinding her chest against mine as I keep thrusting into her. I reach down and grab her ass, pulling her against me to penetrate her deeper and deeper.

I can feel her walls tightening around me as her back arches and she screams my name. I bury my face into her neck and bite down, moaning loudly as I finish with her, spilling my seed up into her and filling her completely. As I collapse down onto her, she starts dragging her fingernails down my back, riding the waves of her orgasm, before she leans her head forward and latching down on my neck, biting down hard.

I roll off of her and lay next to her, taking her into my arms and holding her close. She makes small pleasure noises as she nestles up against me. "I love you so much," I whisper to her. "I love you too." She whispers back. I reach down and pull a blanket up to cover us as we drift off to sleep.

_**A few hours later**_

I slowly start to wake up, feeling my arms wrapped around Yang. She's sleeping peacefully, her arms wrapped around my neck. She's snoring lightly, which brings a smile to my face. I gently place a kiss on her forehead which causes her to smile in her sleep and mutter, "Mmm, Grun." I slowly detangle myself from her, quietly getting out of bed and walking to my closet, grabbing a fresh set of clothes to replace my set of tattered shreds at the foot of my bed. I move over to my window and open it a crack. I grab my pack of smokes off of my dresser and light one up, slowly taking a long drag off of it. I hold it in my lungs for a few heartbeats before letting it out.

"I didn't know you smoked." I hear from the bed. I look over to see Yang sitting up with a lazy smile on her face. She is only half covering herself with the blanket, giving me a beautiful view of her body. I take another long drag before saying, "Yeah I know. It's a terrible habit, but I've been at it for ten years now. I've tried to quit several times, but it never took."

She stands up with the blanket wrapped around her and walks over to me. She sits in my lap and takes the cigarette out of my mouth. She looks at it for a moment before popping into her mouth and taking a short drag off of it. She coughs for a second but gets herself under control. After she breathes out, she takes another long drag off of it before giving it back to me. I raise my eyebrow at her and ask, "Have you smoked before?"

She shakes her head and says, "Nope, first time. Today is my day for firsts, it seems." She smiles sweetly at me and leans forward to kiss me. I return the kiss as I flick the cigarette out my window. After a few moments of gentle kissing I finally break free and say, "You hungry?" She thinks for a moment and says, "Yeah, I could eat. What time is it?" I check the clock by my bed and say, "It's about 7:15. I could fix us something in the bar and bring it up here if you like. Unless you have an early curfew, then I can take you back to your dorm."

She looks at me with a pout on her mouth. She says to me, "Can't I stay the night here?" I smile at her and say, "As much as I would love that, I don't think that's a good idea. What would you tell your teammates? Or Glynda if she catches you?"

She looks at me and says, "I don't care. I don't want to leave your side yet. Please don't send me away tonight." Her eyes are big and moist, as if she's holding back tears. I try to hold firm, but seeing her like this is too much on my heart. I finally sigh and say, "Ok, ok babe, you can stay the night if you want. But we are getting up early tomorrow and getting you back before anyone is awake. I'm not dealing with your teammates' interrogations, or Jaune's either. And I am definitely not explaining it to Glynda." She smiles at me and nods, saying "Oh thank you Grun. I love you so much." She wraps her arms around me and holds me tightly. I hug her back, knowing that she just played me like a fiddle and not caring in the slightest.

"Should you call your team and let them know so that they don't worry?" She sighs and smiles before she leans over to the table, letting me stare at her lovely, shapely backside. Before she made the call, she looked back at me, knowing I was looking. She smiled and wiggled her hips a little. I reached over and give her firm ass a squeeze. She giggles and sits down next to me.

I hear her sister pick up the scroll with a cheerful, "Hey Sis! How'd the date go?!" Yang was holding the scroll a little ways away from her ear. "Hey ruby, it's going great. Is everyone in the room?" Ruby replies with "Yeah, why?" "Good, will you let them know that I won't be coming back to the dorm tonight and to not wait up for me? I'm staying the night at Grun's." She leans over to nibble on my neck some, as I chuckle low and say, "You are absolutely shameless."

She winks at me and whispers, "You love it." I hear Ruby yelling, "YANG, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" "I said I'm staying the night at Grun's so don't wait up. We were just about to go get some dinner so I'm going to go. Love you Rubes! See you tomorrow." I hear Ruby shouting something, but Yang hangs up and stands, moving to wriggle into her clothes.

Before we head downstairs, she pulls me close for another slow kiss. She whispers into my ear, "That was amazing, my love. I could get used to it." She stops at the dresser and grabs the necklace I gave her, slipping it over her head and around her neck. It slips down into her cleavage, which I can't help but stare at, desire painting my features again. She sees this and smiles but says, "Later dear. We have all night. We need to eat." She takes my hand and leads me down to the bar.

It's a loud night tonight, with a couple of guys arguing rather loudly about who had the seat nearest the taps. It seemed to be close to escalating to blows, so I pulled Yang behind the bar and walked up to the two fellas.

"Hey guys, what seems to be the problem here?" I shout at them to be heard. They both look at me and Yang standing next to me. The one guy I know, Friedrich, quiets down and looks away, not wanting to piss me off. The other guy is new and doesn't know what he's getting into. He glares at me then looks Yang up and down. This pisses me off quite a great deal.

"Hey honey, why don't you come out from around that bar and sit here with me?" He slurs to her, reaching out to grab at her. I grab his wrist and pull him where he is looking in my eyes. I growl menacingly, "Listen buddy, that there is my woman. Make a move on her again, and I start breaking bones, got it?" I give his wrist a squeeze, making the bones grind together and causing him to yelp in pain. He looks at me like he's going to make something out of it, so I jump over the counter, flip him over my shoulder, and throw him out the door.

Several of the patrons simply ducked out of the way, they being used to something like this happening. They went back to drinking without missing a beat. Friedrich looked at me and said, "Did I hear you right, Grun? You got yourself a woman now?" "Shut up Friedrich and go back to drinking." "Can do." He immediately passes out on the bar.

I shake my head and head back around the bar to go back to Yang's side. She's grinning and her eyes are glittering. "You sure know how to show a girl good time, Grun. And 'your woman'? Really?" I smile back and say, "Do you disapprove? What should I call you then?"

"I'm perfectly happy with being your woman. Now how about that dinner?" I cook us some steaks and fries and we head back up to my room. I grab a couple beers and some cokes as we head through and take them with us. When we get back to my room, we eat and talk, just about random things, getting to know each other better. I learned about her dog, Zwei and the weird things that her father had done to him.

"Wait," I said as I take a swig of beer, "Your dad actually sent Zwei in the mail to you girls? How did he make the trip?" Yang is chewing so it takes a minute for her to answer. After she swallows, she asks me to hand her a drink. I reach for a coke for her, but she shakes her head, pointing at my beer. I raise my eyebrow at her but I shrug and hand her my open one. She takes a drink from it, pulling a face at the initial taste but seeming to like it.

"We never did figure that out," she said after she finished the beer. "But dad used to do it all the time so we never really questioned it. So what made you start the white fang?"

I thought about this for a moment, giving it serious thought before answering her. "In all honesty, I just got tired of being treated differently for looking different. So Adam and I got a couple of our Faunus friends together and we started as just protests at places that didn't treat Faunus fairly. After a couple weeks, we realized that we had almost twice as many Faunus standing with us. After a month, it was twice as many again. After two months, we were over a hundred members strong."

Yang is nodding along to my story. "Can you tell me how you met Blake?" I stop eating, setting my plate on the table next to my bed and sigh. "That was a terrible day. Blake's parents were one of our most steadfast members, always in the front of the lines of our protests and boycotts. One day we were at one of the Schnee Dust mines, picketing the poor work conditions of the workers. We were there for hours when we saw something we never expected; Children were coming up out of the mines. Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna were furious, seeing as Blake was near the same age. They ran inside the mine wanting to free the kids, but something happened, some support column failed and the mine collapsed. They got the kids out, but the Belladonnas didn't make it back out."

Yang was crying, "What happened after that?" "I had to go to Blake and tell her what had happened. She broke down and wept for her parents. But not long after she joined the White Fang wholeheartedly. She tried to take her parents place in our ranks. She looked up to me and Adam for starting it, but I think she always blamed me for her parents' death."

Yang shakes her head, wiping tears from her eyes. "I asked her about you that first night we me you. She said you saved her after her parents died. The White Fang gave her life purpose, made it easier to cope with her parents' deaths. She was grateful to you, she told me so herself." I look at her, not sure what to say about this. I had always thought that Blake hated me. I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere so I don't start crying.

"So you were curious about me from the first day," I ask her. She smiles and nods, not embarrassed at all to admit it. "There was just something about you that caught my eye. I think it was the fire I saw in your eyes." She sets her plate next to mine, having finished all of her food.

"Dust that was good," she says, "Where did you learn to cook?" I smile gently and look away from her, a little embarrassed. "I, um, I taught myself." She cocks an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to elaborate. I sigh and say, "When the Arks first took me and Adam in, we weren't able to work because we were too young and we couldn't go to school yet because it took time for them to legally adopt us. So that left Adam and I with a lot of spare time during the day. James would make snacks for us while we were reading in the library and I got curious as to how he made something so simple taste so good. At first I asked him to teach me some, but he had a lot of work around the house, so he leant me some books about cooking to read. I dove into those books with a passion, wanting to know everything there was to know about cooking."

I stopped and chuckled to myself, remembering back then. "More often than not, Adam was my reluctant taste tester. For months he ate my creations, not complaining about it, though I knew they tasted atrocious. Then one day, he took a bite into a cake I had baked, and I could see shock on his face. 'It's really good,' he told me before devouring the whole thing. From then on, he hardly ate anything I didn't cook. I just kept up with it out of habit."

Yang smiled at me and said, "Even back then, you were an amazing brother and a good father to Adam." She leaned forward to plant a kiss on my lips, which I eagerly returned. We were interrupted by my scroll going off. I looked down to see that Bull was calling me. I groaned and picked up, "Yeah boss? What's up?"

Bull responded with, "Sorry to cut your date short, but I need a hand down here. Busy tonight." I sigh heavily and say, "Alright boss, I'll be right down." I put my scroll in my pocket and get up, moving to put my work clothes and apron on. "Sorry baby, Bull needs me downstairs. I'll be back after a while." I look over to her to see her grabbing one of my shirts and a pair of pants, making herself look presentable. I give her a look, causing her to smile and say, "I told you I didn't want to leave your side, so I'm going to help you down there."

I try to protest, but she is already heading for the door. I shake my head and follow her out, heading down to the bar. When we enter the bar room, we are met with even louder carousing than before. Yang and I slip behind the bar and walk over to Bull, waiting for our assignments. He looks from Yang to me and raises an eyebrow. I shrug and say, "She wants to help."

He nods and says, "Young lady, you work the bar and get drinks. Grun, kitchen. I'll take orders and deliver. Got it?" We both nod and get to work. We fall into a steady rhythm of working together. After a couple hours, the crowd finally dies down and starts to leave, leaving the three of us alone, tired from so many customers. Bull looks at us and smiles, saying, "You guys work really well together. You want a part time job here, Yang?"

This causes Yang to light up and cheer, "You mean that I'll get to work alongside my man? I'd love a job!" She is skipping and laughing, exuberant in her happiness. I turn to Bull and Yang, being the voice of reason, saying "You do realize that she is still attending Beacon, right? So she wouldn't be able to work late during the week and it can't affect her school work. Agreed?" Bull looks at me and nods, understanding my concerns.

Yang pouts at me, saying "Don't you want me to work with you, Grun?" I look her in the eyes and rest my hand against her cheek, gently stroking it with my thumb. "Of course I want you to work with me, my dear," I reassure her. "I just don't want it to affect how you do in classes. I want you to graduate and get a good job and be able to support yourself. Not spend your life working in a dive bar." I look to Bull, "No offense, boss." He shrugs and says, "None taken. It'd be an improvement to call this shithole a dive." Yang and I both chuckle at this and look back into each other's eyes.

Yang wants to protest more, but she can see that I'm not budging on it. So she finally sighs and nods, "Fine, Grun. No late shifts during the week. But in return, I can stay here with you all weekend." I start to protest, but she quiets me with a deep kiss. I resist at first, but eventually give in, relenting to her wish. Bull coughs to bring us out of our kiss and says, "By the way, no mounting each other during work hours. I can already see the love bites on both your necks from here."

I start to blush and move to cover my neck with my collar, but Yang opens the neck of her shirt, showing hers off proudly. "Now I have proof that you're my man." I mutter quietly about her being shameless, but she just smiles wider and tugs her shirt a little more, flashing a hint of her cleavage at me before buttoning back up.

Bull is chuckling next to me, saying, "Grun, you have yourself one hell of a woman there. If she ever gets tired of you, send her my way." Yang smiles Bull, saying, "Oh Grun doesn't have to worry about that. I'm sure I'll always find ways to keep him interesting." This causes Bull to bust out laughing, heading into the kitchen and saying, "Alright kids, shifts over. Go back to whatever it was you were doing."

Yang nearly yanks my arm out of its socket as she starts dragging me back up to my…Our room? "That's going to take some getting used to," I think to myself. "Well you have the rest of your life to get used to it," I hear Leere whisper in my mind. I sneer and say, "You guys better not be watching. I'm not your private Skinamax, you know." This makes all three of them chuckle before they trail off, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my woman.

Yang wraps her arms around me and slowly starts to kiss me again. I hold her against me and return it fiercely. She slowly guides me back to my bed, pulling me down on top of her. After a couple minutes of nonstop making out, I finally pull back to catch my breath. I look down at her and take in her beautiful face, framed perfectly by her messy mane of golden hair. Her eyes are glazed over and unfocused, lost in the pleasure of our kiss. I can smell her arousal through her borrowed clothes, her hips arching up against me, begging me for friction.

I smile down at her and start kissing her neck, reaching up to cup her breasts with my hands so I could start to slowly rub and squeeze them. She moans with pleasure, throwing herself against me, biting my neck and tangling her fingers in my hair. I grab a handful of her hair and gently pull her head back, giving me more access to her neck, letting me kiss and bite it as I wish. She starts to gasp and buck against me, letting the pleasure flow over her.

I lean forward to nibble on her ear and whisper, "Tell me what you want. Anything you could wish for, ask and it's yours." I hear her moan and feel her thighs squeeze against me, getting more turned on while thinking of her fantasies. She whispers back to me, "Dominate me. I want you to take me and not be gentle with it." I look into her eyes and see the desire in them.

I nod and slowly stand up. I start to take hold of her shirt to unbutton it, but I spot my tattered rags on the floor not far from us and have an idea. I grab either side of her shirt and tear it open, exposing her large breasts, held back by her yellow bra. I grab it and rip it from her body, letting her beautiful mounds free. I use shreds from her shirt and tie her wrists together, growling at her, "You don't move unless I say so, got it?" She nods at me, lust and need dancing in her eyes.

"Good girl," I purr to her, causing her to squirm at my voice. I grab onto the pants that she borrowed from me and slowly start to peel them off of her, grazing my nails down her beautiful legs as I do. I can feel the shivers shoot through her, wanting to moan, wanting to hold me, but not wanting to break the rules of our game. When I finally get the pants off of her, I look at her beautiful womanhood, watching as the juice of her arousal slowly dripped out of her, pooling beneath her and collecting near her ass. I grin at this and move to start lapping it up, wanting to savor such a sweet taste coming from her.

She moans aloud and tries to run her bound fingers through my hair, but I reach up and swat her hands away, looking her in the eyes and sternly saying, "No. Not until I tell you that you can." She looks into my eyes, pleading to let her touch me, needing to feel more of me. But I smirk and go back to slowly lapping at her heat, gently nipping at her folds and sucking on her clit, feeling her insides tighten around the finger I insert into her, knowing she is already about to come.

Before she does, I stand up again, grab her by her hips and roll her over onto her stomach, before I start to fumble with my belt. After I get it undone, I reach up to her to untie wrists. She tries to put her hands below her to support herself but I tell her, "No, put your hands together at the small of your back." She looks back at me, not believing that I keep teasing her so, but she obeys, hoping that obedience will reward her with the release she so desires.

After I bind her wrists once more, I drop my pants, boxers and shirt to the floor, standing completely nude behind her. I slowly move up against her, rubbing my hard erection against the outside of her, rubbing my shaft against her slit, not entering her yet, wanting to drive her mad knowing that I could take her at any time I want, but still choosing to deny her what she wants most.

She tries to pull herself forward so that she can align herself with my dick, wanting to get me inside her. However I pull away from her and slap her firmly on her ass, causing her to yelp in pain and pleasure, telling her, "No I said. We move at the pace I set." She is shaking now, almost ready to tear from her bonds in hopes to get to me. I reach up and grasp her wrists in my one hand, holding them still, while I use my other one to reach up and massage her sensitive breasts, switching between fondling her breasts and pinching her nipples, coaxing new and sensual noises from her, begging me to just take her.

"Please Grun," she gasps back at me, "I can't take it anymore. Please just hurry and fuck me. I need you to fuck me hard, Grun." She looks back at me and I see tears in her eyes, the need to be filled too much for her. My resolve finally breaks and I do as she wishes. I line myself up with her entrance and slowly push myself inside her, her moans and cries of pleasure doubling with each passing moment.

"Gods, yes," she is panting, hardly able to control herself as she starts rocking back against me. "I can't hold back, Grun. I need this, I need this so badly." I oblige and start to work myself in and out of her, slowly at first so I don't hurt her, before I start picking up the pace, each thrust that buries me to the hilt into her core causing me to slap myself against her firm ass, causing loud slapping sounds that started to turn me on even more.

I look at her as I keep thrusting into her. Her neck, cheeks and back are sweating and flushed, the pleasure driving any coherent thought from her mind. I set my hand against her ass and then pull it back and give it a firm smack, making her yelp at the new sensation. I finally decide that she has suffered enough, undoing the cloth that holds her wrists in place. As soon as I do, she starts massaging her own breasts, pinching and twisting her nipples as I keep pounding into her.

I keep slapping her ass every now and again and use my other hand to start raking my nails down her back, making her scream my name. I finally grab hold of her hips and stop holding back. I pour myself into her, trying to fill every nook and cranny in her womanhood with myself. She is moaning and panting, saying "Gods Grun, I'm almost there, please don't stop, don't ever stop."

I can feel her tightening against my shaft, knowing that she is just moments of coming. I lean down to bite down on her shoulder, finally pushing her over the brink, releasing her warm juices back against me. She falls forward, resting on her stomach. This sends me over the edge as well, and I pull out, covering her back and ass with my seed. She moans loudly, enjoying this new sensation. I fall over next to her, facing her. She turns to look at me, a big satisfied smile on her face.

"That was even better than last time, Grun." She purrs to me. I can't speak, barely being able to nod in response. She slowly wiggles over to me to place a kiss on my lips, which I return with passion. "I love you so much, Yang," I whisper to her. She smiles and says, "I love you too Grun." I wrap my arms around her, holding her close to me. I whisper to myself, "Please, don't ever leave me. I don't want to be alone anymore."

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. She holds me against her, moving so that my head was resting on her chest. She starts running her fingers through my hair, whispering to me. "Don't worry Grun. I'm never going to leave you. I love you too much to let you go. I'm by your side till the end. I promise." I relax against her and slowly start to drift off to sleep.

_**Quickly change to Yang's POV**_

I stare down at Grun, amazed that a man so big can seem so frail in my arms, so scared to lose somebody he loves. I start to cry as I keep holding him against him, not knowing the pain he has felt after losing his team and his wife, but I can imagine after losing not one but two mothers. I squeeze him tightly and gently kiss his forehead, causing him to pull me against him tighter and muttering in his sleep, "Yang, I love you so much." Mumble mumble. I smile to myself, not believing that I was lucky enough to find such an amazing man.

I move us to lay the right way on the bed, covering us with his blankets and cuddle closely. I start thinking about our future together, wondering how it would be. "Maybe I could get him to take my last name." I think to myself. "He didn't translate his name when we met him, but Weiss did after we left. 'Grun Abscheulichkeit' she had told us, 'means Green Abomination. I don't know if he gave himself the name, but whoever thought of it was afraid of his semblance. Being able to manipulate and absorb Aura is a terrifying power. Somebody feared it and didn't want Grun to forget it, naming him after it.'"

"Grun Xiao Long has a much nicer ring to it." I think to myself. "Green Little Dragon, I like it." As I look down to his still semi-erect manhood, I giggle and say, "Maybe not so little dragon. But that's just for me to know." Then I start to think farther into our future. "I'll be a good mother to Grun's kids." I say to myself, "I'll love then like they were my own. I'll make sure that nothing bad ever happens to them. And maybe we'll even add to our family." This causes me to blush as I say, "I wonder if Grun even wants more kids. And if he does, how many more would he like?"

I was still thinking these kinds of thoughts as I drifted off to sleep, holding Grun tightly against me, never wanting to let him go. "I will never leave your side, Grun. I promise."

~End of chapter 8.

**Hey my dears, Nightengale here again. Hope you liked this chapter! I will admit, I was having a bit of writers block on this one, so I do apologize if the flow seems kind of choppy and weird. I was trying to make it up as I went without disrupting it too much. If you find something wrong or wanna see something different in the future, I'd be more than happy to take advice under advisement. Also sorry that I've have inconsistent publishing with this story. I work full time and I've got a wife and two young kids, so I don't have a lot of time to write. I'm not sure how long I'll make this story, I'm kind of making it up as I go. I do know where the story is going, I promise, I just don't know how long the path is going to be. Well I'll see you all in the next chapter. All of my love you all for taking time out of your day to read this. And have a wonderful day!**


	9. Chapter 9

___**One month after Yang and Grun got together. Grun's POV**_

"What a minute Yang," I say to my girlfriend, "You want me to do what now?" We're sitting at a café drinking some coffee. She's sitting across from me with a meek little rabbit Faunus sitting next to her. It's the one I helped with those bullies a month ago. What was her name again? Satin? Cashmere? Some kind of fancy cloth. Yang is staring at me, pleading for me to hear her out.

"I want you to help Velvet here." Yang says to me. "She has a crush on the leader of her team and she doesn't know how to tell her. She's afraid that she'll turn her down, or that she doesn't even like girls." I take a drink of my coffee and look at them both, not believing what I'm hearing.

"I've only spoken to Velvet here one time." I say to Yang. "Why is she coming to me for help with something like this?" Yang smiles at this and says, "For one, she thinks that you somehow tamed the "Wild Girl Yang" and made her your girl. And for two, she found out that you are the reason that Jaune and Pyrrha are finally together." I raise my eyebrow at this and ask, "Oh? How exactly did she find that out?"

Yang looks at me smiling, not a bit of shame on her face when she says, "I told her it was you." I sigh and start rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Well let me clear up a couple of things for you Velvet before you actually ask me to do something." I look at her and she is blushing a little and tugging on the end of one of her bunny ears. But she still looked to me and nodded.

"To begin with, I didn't "Tame" Yang and "Make her my girl". She is the one who approached me and expressed interest in me." I smile at Yang and take her hand. She's squeeze mine. "She's the one who tamed me, making me her man. She saw something in me that she wanted and she didn't let up. She kept telling me she wanted to be with me until I actually started to believe her." Yang blushed, realizing how pushy it sounded when I said it out loud. I smiled at her and said, "Not that I'm complaining in anyway, you understand. I love Yang very much and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else." Yang leans towards me to kiss me gently.

I look over to Velvet, seeing her blushing fiercely. I chuckle softly, my inner sadist wanting to come forward and tease her a little. But I rein it in and say to her, "So, about Jaune and Pyrrha, they were already crazy about each other, just too stubborn, oblivious, or nervous to make a move. I just gave them a nudge and they made the decisions for themselves to be together." I look Velvet in the eye and ask her, "Knowing this, do you still want my help?"

Velvet returns my gaze, her large, dark brown eyes boring into mine. "Hmm," I think, "This little rabbit isn't backing down from a wolf. She's a brave one, I'll give her that. She just doesn't realize it." She finally nods to me and says, "Yes Mr. Grun, I would like for you to help me at least confess my feelings for Coco, even if she doesn't return the feelings." Velvet had a very mild accent, one I couldn't place. You would never notice it as she doesn't seem to talk much.

I smile warmly at her and say, "Very good. Give me some time to figure something out and we'll go from there." Velvet nods and stands up to leave, but before she does she sticks her hand out for me to shake it. I grab her hand with a smile and shake firmly. "Thank you," she says to me. I shake my head, saying, "Don't thank me until we figure this thing out. I haven't done anything for you to thankful for."

Velvet looks at Yang and smiles, saying "You caught yourself a good one Yang, even if he seems reluctant to admit it." Yang smiles back at Velvet and moves over to sit next to me, cuddling up tight against me. "You better believe it. And hey, if things don't work out with Coco, maybe I'll let you borrow Grun every now and then." Velvet blushes a deep scarlet, while I start choking on my coffee.

"Yang!" I say, "Don't be saying stuff like that. People might take you seriously." Yang smiles back at me and says, "Who says I'm not serious? I've never been afraid to try new things. Having two Faunus to play with might be fun." I slowly start shaking my head, figuring it was just part of her weird sense of humor. I look at Velvet to see she is still blushing, but she has a smile on her face, staring at Yang and I a little strangely. I snap my fingers in front of Velvet to get her attention.

"Hey," I say to her, "We're trying to get you involved with this Coco lady, not plan some threesome for us." Velvet blushes again and nods before she runs out the door. After she is gone, I look over to Yang. "Please for the love of Dust tell me you were messing with her when you said that." I say to her. She just smiles and says, "I guess we won't know unless you can't get those two together."

I shake my head and say, "I've never been big on sharing anyway. So I'll just have to make sure they get together." Yang chuckles quietly and puts her hand on my thigh. A chill slips up my body, but I suppress it and say, "So, tell me about this Coco chick." Yang pouts but pulls out her scroll, showing me a picture of a well-dressed brunette, whose dark brown hair was loose to her shoulders, a single lock transitioning from dark brown to deep scarlet. Her beret and her sunglasses perfectly matched her hair, as did her designer handbag.

I quirk an eyebrow at Yang, saying, "I recognize that handbag. Jeanne used to have one just like it. And those things don't come cheap. So she comes from money?" Yang nods in agreement, saying "Yes, I think her father is in charge of some car manufacturing conglomerate or something. The thing is, though, she doesn't flash her cash like some rich debutante, she only indulges in certain things, like clothes and cars. She usually eats cheap school lunches and most of her beddings are secondhand."

I take my chin into my hand, thinking. "Hmm, so she isn't flashy and just has a weakness for fast cars and nice clothes. Other than that she seems to be pretty down to earth. Has she had any relationships since she's been in school?"

Yang shakes her head, saying "I have no idea. Not many people really talk to her outside of her team, team CFVY. She seems to be exceptionally strong and composed in a fight. Her handbag turns into a giant chain gun, and I've seen her tear down herds of Ursa and Beowolves with it."

I whistle in appreciation, knowing how tough they can be. I tap my chin, and wonder out loud, "How does she treat her teammates? Is she a good leader?" Yang nods, saying "Yes she is a great leader. She treats her teammates as family, always looking out for them. Especially Velvet, seeing as she got tormented by CRDL all the time."

I take in this information, thinking for a moment. An idea forms in my mind and I smile, squeezing Yang hand. "I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work. Can you call your team and have them meet us at the fountain in a half hour? And call Velvet too." Yang nods and starts making calls. I hold onto her hand and gently guide her out of the café, paying on the way out.

While she's on her scroll, I lead her to the nearest liquor store, where I buy two fifths of John Beemer, the cheapo rot gut stuff. As we're leaving, I notice that Yang is giving me an odd look, wondering what I'm up to. I smile at her and say, "I'll explain when we get there. I don't want to have to explain it twice." Yang nods and follows me to the air ships.

When we get back to beacon, I find the rest of team RWBY as well as Velvet at the fountain, like I asked. I smile at the girls and wave as we walk over. I begin to explain my plan to them, telling each of them what I need for them to do. Ruby and Weiss nod and start running towards CFVY's dorm room. Blake and Velvet start mussing up Velvets clothes when no one is looking and then Blake takes up a position between me and Velvet, with Velvet clutching at her clothes.

Yang stands back for a moment while I upend one of the bottles of liquor over my head, dousing myself with it, causing me to reek of booze, though the high alcohol content quickly causes the liquor to dry, making it hard to tell the stains are fresh. I then dump out half of the other bottle, then swig a mouthful, swishing it around to get the smell on my breath. I nod to Yang, who seems reluctant to be a part of my plan, but still wanting to help her friend Velvet.

Velvet asks Yang, "are you sure you are ok with Coco potentially hating your boyfriend forever?" Yang looks torn, but I answer for her, saying, "Don't worry about it. If she doesn't care for me, it's a small price to pay to give you the chance you deserve. Now it's almost time so everyone get ready." Everyone nods and gets ready. Blake stands between us again, keeping me away from Velvet. Yang takes hold of my arm, desperately trying to pull me away from her. I adopt a drunken demeanor, stumbling and slurring heavily, holding the bottle haphazardly, letting some of it slosh out every now and then.

"Cooommme oooon, little buhh-hic-unny. III'm juuussh waantin a lil 'preciation fur helpin yu out not long ago. –burp!- Ugh, gods thish sturff ish weak. Ain't evvevn buzzshhing frumm itt." Yang starts pulling on me harder, trying to get me away from there. Before she is able to move me, we hear a very loud, "OY, THE HELL YOU TRYING TO DO TO VELVET!"

I look over to see a very pissed off Coco coming our way. I smile drunkenly at her, seemingly forgetting Velvet and stumble towards Coco. "Whheeeeeellll Heeeeeyyy thuuurr, ppppreeuuutty giiiirrlry. Hoooowoowrre yyyoouuu ddoiinnig? Yoooouuuuu loookinn fuuuur sommmeee fuuuunnnn?" She snears at me and says, "You wish, you damn drunk. I ain't into guys, especially heavy handed drunkards who try to hurt my friends."

I smile wider at her, finding out at least some part of what Velvet wanted to know. I look to her and see she is blushing and smiling a little, hearing what she said too. I turn back to Coco and shrug, moving back towards Velvet, but Coco steps between us, not letting me get any closer.

I squint at her and say, "Heeeeeyyyy nnoooowww, yooooooouuuuu haaarrraad youuuuruurr sssshaaancce annnnd youuo weret interested. Mmoovve outttta ma way so I cannn get backkkk to someoneeeene whhooo miiigghgt wannannant some. –Hic-"

I reach forward to push Coco out of my way, but she swats my hand away with her hand bag, moving to kick me in a very bad place. I stumble backwards out of her way and smile goofily at her. "Whaaazzza maaddddere, tthththhhissis bubbubunnnnny youoououor giiirrlrrlfriend oroorrr somomooething?"

Coco glared at me, then shocked all of us. She walked over to Velvet, pulled her up and kissed her deeply, holding her tight against her and feeling her up. After a solid minute of this, she turns back to me, glaring at me. "Why yes, yes she is." She wraps her arm around Velvet's waist and pulls her close.

I shrug at this and start stumbling away from them, heading towards the main gates. I whisper over my shoulder, not loud enough for a human to hear, but plenty loud enough for a Faunus to hear, "There you go Velvet. You got your chance, don't let it slip away." I hear a soft whisper come to me, saying "Thank you Grun. I won't waste this chance you gave me." I smile and start stumbling down the stairs, even fall down a couple of them for good measure. I feel Yang run up beside me, supporting me on her shoulder and helping me walk to the air docks. When we were out of sight and earshot of the others, Yang whispers to me, "And you say that I'm crazy? What if Coco tried to kill you? How'd you know she would react like that?"

I stand up and start walking by myself, shrugging and saying, "I didn't know she was going to start a full blown make out session with Velvet. I thought she was just going to say that Velvet was her friend or girlfriend or something the Velvet could tell her how she really felt. But hey, it gave your friend a chance either way, so I'm willing to chalk that up as a win." I smile down at her, as we walk onto the ship, letting it take us Vale. As we head towards the tavern, where I can get a shower and a change of clothes.

Before we get there, though, Yang's scroll starts to rings. Seeing that it's Velvet calling her, she immediately picks up, to Velvet yelling in her ear, "I DID IT! I ASKED COCO TO GO OUT WITH ME! AND SHE SAID YESSS!" Yang is holding her scroll at arm's length, trying to protect her ear. After Velvet calms down, Yang press the scroll to her ear and starts talking to Velvet normally.

After we get to the tavern, We head up to our room, where I start peeling out of my whiskey soaked clothes. Being bare except for my boxers, I grab a fresh set of clothes before heading to the bathroom. Yang grabs my butt as I walk by, happily feeling me up. I roll my eyes and walk into the bathroom. After my shower, I come back out into the room, clean and sober, and freshly dressed.

I look around our room as Yang chats with Velvet. After a month of us spending weekends together here, I have noticed that she has definitely started to move in. I can see some of her clothes in my closet, hanging next to my clothes. Some of her battle gear was on my dresser and I saw a couple pairs of her panties hanging on my bed posts. I turn when I hear Yang clear her throat. I look at her, an eyebrow raised. She waves me over to her, so I oblige. When I'm standing in front of her, she hands her scroll to me saying, "Velvet and Coco want to talk to you."

I smile and take her scroll, pressing it to my ear, singing to the other end, "HEEELllllllllooooo, my dears! I hear congratulations are in order?" I hear Yang giggle next to me, while she busies herself with trying to grab hold of my belt. I shimmy my hips away from her and stand by the door, my back to the wall.

Yang pouts as I hear Velvet say, "I just wanted to say thank you, Grun. I wouldn't have been able to do this without your help." I laughed and said, "You're more than welcome, Velvet. I was happy to help." I look around, noticing that Yang isn't around. I grow concerned until I feel a pair of hands grab hold of my hips. I look down to see Yang smiling up at me, desire crossing her face as she grabs hold of my zipper with her teeth. I try to pull away, not wanting to start this while I was talking to somebody, but Yang wasn't letting go. I put my hand over the phone and mouth the words, "Quit it. Later" to Yang. But she shakes her head and reaches into my pants, finding her prize. I quietly groan as she squeezes me.

"Grun, you ok? Is something wrong?" I can hear concern in Velvet's voice, so I reassure her, "No nothing's wrong, Yang's just trying to distract me right now." As is say this, Yang takes my manhood out of my pants, panting loudly as she looks at it, admiring its girth. She starts dragging her tongue along the bottom of it, causing me to moan out loud. "Listen Velvet, I have to go. Good luck with your new relationship and all that stuff. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

I turn off Yang's scroll and toss it onto the bed before clutching my hands closed as Yang starts taking me into her mouth, slowly licking and sucking on my hardness, making moan and groan more. "Gods Yang, What the hell? Why would you do that when I was talking to her?" She doesn't answer right away, reveling in the sensation of my dick on her tongue. She's been wanting to go down on me more and more, wanting to be able to take as much of me into her mouth as she can. She can get about three quarters of the way down before she starts to gag. So she then backs off a little and just bobs up and down there.

She pulls her mouth from around my hard cock, smiling as she looks up at me and says, "I just wanted to give you a reward for helping Velvet like that. But I enjoy doing it too and I couldn't hold myself back anymore. Now go sit on the bed so we can continue, I know your legs aren't going to last much longer.

I slowly shuffle over to the bed, my head swimming in a haze of pleasure. Before I sit down, she undoes my belt and pants and pulls them down to my ankles. She then pushes me down on the bed and kneels in front of me. She starts pulling off her shirt and bra, smiling at my look I give her. She giggles and says, "I want to try something new today." Seeing me nod, she grabs hold of her large breasts and sandwiches my dick between them, leaning down a little to suck on my head while she rubs her breast up and down my shaft.

I lay back onto my bed, my body overcome with the sudden waves of pleasure I was feeling. Yang follows me back, not letting me out from her mouth or her tits. She starts pumping harder, seeing my hands twitching, my brain not able to send whole signals to tell my hands to do anything. Finally I'm able to get my hand to reach forward and gently start playing with her hair. She leans her head over to rub against my hand, but she doesn't stop rubbing up and down my length, wanting me to hurry and fill her mouth with her own treat.

I can already feel myself about to spill over the edge, I moan a loud "Yang!" and arch my back, spilling my hot seed into her mouth, filling it as she greedily sucked it down, wanting to drink it all. I lay back on the bed, panting heavily and unable to move. I see her smile down at me before walking over to the door, and pulling it open, revealing a blushing Velvet and a smiling Coco. They see Yang topless and myself without my pants, still fully erect on my bed. I can only pant out to Yang, "Babe, what the Dust? Did the come here to kick my ass or something?" I'm answered when the three of them walk into the room and lock the door behind them. The three of them come over to kneel in front of me, staring at my dick, making me self-conscious.

"Yang, what the hell is going on here? Hand me my pants, I don't feel comfortable laying here naked in front of them." I'm interrupted by Velvet and Coco reaching out to grab my manhood, not believing that they were actually holding me in their hands.

"Wow, Yang," Velvet says, "You weren't kidding. I can't believe how big it is." She gulped and started stroking me, while she used her other hand to start playing with Coco's breast.

"Velvet's right," Coco said. "This is amazing. And you really are ok with sharing it with us right now?" I glare up at Yang, demanding "Yang, Damn it, tell me what the hell is going on here." Before she answers, Velvet pulls her hair behind her ear and starts sucking on the head of my dick. I grab handfuls of my bed sheets, hearing Yang say to me, "I told you, babe. I wanted to give you a reward for helping Velvet and Coco. And after we told Coco what happened, they wanted to help give you a reward too, for helping them realize how they felt about each other."

I groaned out loud as Coco started licking what parts of my shaft Velvet couldn't fit in her mouth. I was trying to form coherent thoughts, barely able to piece together the sentence. "And how exactly did that equate to –oooooooohhh Fuuuuuuuucccck- you three ganging up on me when I couldn't fight back?" I couldn't help but arch my back as Coco took my sack into her mouth as Velvet kept trying go farther down my shaft. I stared at Yang, her eyes two violet pools of lust as she moved over towards me, massaging her breasts and rubbing herself between her legs.

"When they realized how they felt about each other," Yang said as she started to crawl up by my head, completely naked now. "They wanted to ask about you. When I told Coco the truth about the plan she was upset, but Velvet calmed her down. I said if it made her feel better, you weren't a bad guy, you were just willing to do whatever you could to help a friend. And I meant anything."

I was starting to struggle against the girls, not wanting to lose myself to this sensation. I looked at Yang and said "But you still doesn't explain how this translated to you three attacking me." I was going to ask more, but before I could, Yang was kneeling over my face, her hot, sticky opening inches from my mouth. My mouth was watering, just thinking about the sweet juices just waiting for me to release on the other side of those beautiful folds. I could feel that Velvet and Coco had switched, Coco taking as much of my shaft as she could, which was a little more than Velvet, while Velvet used her soft pink tongue to lick my sack.

Before I could protest, Yang brought herself down to rest her sex on my lips, which made me immediately start licking and kissing every inch of her that I could reach, though she had effectively pinned my arms to my side with her legs. She arched her back and started playing with her breasts. She moaned out loud and said, "After you went to clean up, I invited them over to talk. We stayed on the phone, and they asked me how far you and I had gone. They didn't believe what all we had done, or how big that I told them you were, so I told them I could prove it." She stopped to catch her breath, her knees squeezing my jaw as a wave of pleasure over took her. "So here we are." She growled low as I found her clit with my tongue and started flicking it.

"Coco, Yang I can't wait anymore." I heard a throaty voice below me to discover that it belonged to Velvet. She had somehow discarded all of her clothes and her underwear, and she was standing there playing with herself, staring at my manhood with unbridled desire. Yang smiled back at her and said, "Well then feel free to help yourself." She had never stopped grinding against my mouth, every inch of my lips, teeth and tongue bringing her closer to finishing.

I felt a warmth start to slide over my dick, sliding slowly to rest halfway down, before I felt her stop. "Oh no, is she a.." I don't have time to finish my thought before I feel a tearing and Velvet crying out. She's panting heavily, tears streaking down her face. Coco is next to her, gently kissing her neck and playing with her medium size breasts, teasing her nipples to get her to relax and take in more of me.

She finally opens her eyes and starts sliding up and down on me, every stroke causing the wetness between her legs to spread, coating my lap with her juices. She was suddenly bouncing up and down on me like a rabbit on a trampoline. Yang was doing a good imitation of Velvet on my mouth, screaming my name as she came, painting my face with her essence.

She fell off to the side, just to be replaced by a naked Coco. She kneeled facing the other way, letting me lick and suck her but she was facing Velvet, kissing her and fondling her breasts, while Velvet kept bouncing up and down on me, now able to take me into her entirely. She is screaming both my and Coco's names, coming violently and pouring her juices over my lap and hips. I was throbbing hard, nearing my limit but not quite there yet.

Coco crawled down my body to try to line up with me, but I rolled over and caught her so she was on all fours on the bed. I entered her slowly, feeling no hymen in her as I slowly slid all the way into her. She was so wet I buried myself into her to the hilt. I torturously started to slip in and out of her. I grabbed Velvet and Yang by the ankles and pulled them to lay next to Coco, each of them not able to close their legs before I bury two fingers into each of their heats, pumping vigorously in and out of them, matching the pace my finger set into those two with my cock, pumping into Coco for all I was worth, causing her to scream my name as she came again and again.

Both Velvet and Yang were screaming with Coco, begging me not to stop, to never stop, as orgasm after orgasm shook through their bodies. They were coated in sweat and moaning uncontrollably. I could feel that the moment was coming soon, so I flipped Coco around, while I pulled Yang and Velvet up, putting all of them together, finally pulling out and covering them with my nectar, splashing across their breasts, their faces, into their mouths. Each of them came one last time before they all collapsed in a pile on my bed. I'm panting just as hard as they are, but I was still standing, glaring down at the three of them.

"Yang you and I are going to have a very serious talk." I see that the three of them have fallen asleep, all cuddling up next to each other. I sigh and shake my head, looking down at the woman I love so much. I smile at her sleeping form and said, "If you really wanted to try that, all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to freaking attack me with it. You know I can never say no to you." I shake my head again and set about sorting out whose clothes were whose.

After about ten minutes, the girls start to stir. Each of them wake up and stretch, relishing the aftershocks of that kind of sex, before seeing me sitting in a chair, fully clothed. I was staring at them, tapping a foot. "Good to see you girls are awake." I say to them. "Now, would you care to explain why you decided to jump me like that instead of just asking me if I wanted to try it?"

Velvet and Coco were nervous, not knowing how to respond to me. Yang, however, stretched again, showing off her large, alluring breast. She smiled at me and slowly sashayed her way over to me, giving me a show as she slowly settled into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face in my throat before she said, "I just wanted it to be a surprise for you Grun. I didn't mean for it to turn out like it did. I was going to bring it up to you before they got here, but I got distracted, as you remember, and lost track of time. Please don't be mad at them, my love. It was my fault." She looks up at me with her wide, Violet eyes, knowing full well I can't stay upset with her when she does that.

I sigh and shake my head. Then I lean down and give her a kiss on her lips, slowly drawing her to me with my warmth. She leaned into me, wanting more. But I broke the kiss and beckoned to the other girls. They walk over and kneel next to me, their heads on my lap. I start stroking their hair and sigh again. "So," I say to the three of them. "Where does that leave us?" Velvet and Coco look from me to Yang, confused. "Yang what does he mean?" Yang giggles and nibbles on my neck.

"He means," Yang says, "Is if this was a one-time thing out of appreciation or if I'm going to be sharing him with you two from now on?" Velvet and Coco look at each other, not sure how to respond to this. They had never before considered being in a relationship like that before, but I cut off that train of thought for them.

"Listen girls, I wanted to help you two get together so you could be with the person you cared about, not to start my own harem. My heart belongs to Yang, and it wouldn't be fair to try to make me split that heart among you three girls." Coco and Velvet looked at each other, maybe slightly disappointed, but they finally nodded and started to get dressed. Yang leaned over to whisper in my ear. I groaned but she hit me with those big doe eyes again and I sighed to her, "Fine, fine."

Louder I said, "hey Vel, Co, if you ever want to give that another romp, you're welcome to stop by. Just let me know ahead of time." This caused Velvet and Coco to beam before walking over to me to kiss me deeply before they walked out the door. I turned to talk to Yang, just to have her try to devour my mouth.

After a couple of minutes, she finally broke loose for air and said, "Thank you Grun. I enjoyed that as much as you three did." I shake my head and mutter, "I really let you get away with too much crap." This causes her to smile wider and say, "It's cause you love me. I know it is, cause I love you too." She kisses me gently this time, drawing me into her embrace. I growl low in my throat and say, "You play me like a damn fiddle, woman." She just laughs and says, "You love it."

I quickly scoop her up and take her to the bed, where I climb on top of her and smother her with kisses, causing her to fall into a fit of giggles. After I stopped and she had calmed down, we spooned under the blanket and drifted off to sleep.

~End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello there my dears, Nightengale here again. I wanted to thank you all again for taking the time to read my story. For those who weren't expecting it, I do apologize if the last two chapters seemed to come out of left field. I was having a moment, granted a very long moment when I wrote those scenes between Grun and the girls. I must admit, I've always had a bit of a weakness for Velvet and Coco, hoping they would end up together. Seeing such a timid bunny suddenly let loose and kill so many Grimm got me excited. And the thought of Coco and Velvet getting together just gives me chills. So I suppose that this was a self-serving chapter to my own fantasies. But maybe you all got some enjoyment out of it too. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to some semblance of a story here soon. Ha-ha, sorry I couldn't help myself with the dumb pun. I guess Grun and Yang are starting to rub off on me. Anyway, back to the story! **

_**A couple of weeks after Yang Coco and Velvet had their time with Grun, we find that Yang has talked Grun into visiting her and teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY in the sparring room.**_ _**Grun' POV**_

I sigh and watch Yang as all of us are doing our warm ups, helping each other stretch and loosen ourselves up. Yang looks at me and smiles, "What's wrong, dear?" She asks me sweetly. I look down into her beautiful eyes and respond by asking, "Remind me how you talked me into this again?"

Yang smiles wider and stretches her back, pushing her ample bosom towards me. "Cause you can't ever say no to me, for one. And also because everyone wanted to have another match with you now that they have been training harder and knowing what to expect when they fight you. Plus, Coco and her team wanted to get to know the guy who got the two girls together."

I shake my head and look over at team CFVY. All of them are doing different kinds of stretches and practicing with their weapons. I see the two men of the team and study them. They bigger of the two is called Yatsuhashi, a giant of a man, easily seven feet tall. He was broad and muscular, swinging a large single edged sword, the blade and handle near as long as he is tall. He was swinging that behemoth as easily as I did my Tonfa, so I guessed he was a strong as he was big. But I could see that he had the eyes and the demeanor of a tactician. He was constantly thinking as he went through the motions, planning on how to best maximize the effect of his weapon. I had to watch out for that one.

The shorter of the two, whom Yang told me his name was Fox, was an interesting young man to say the least. His skin was a dark clay color, while his hair was a fierce red. His arms and his torso, from what I could see, were covered with nearly as many scars as mine. His weapons of choice seemed to be twin blade gauntlets which curved back from his wrists, nearly reaching all the way to his shoulders. The handles seemed to follow the natural form of his hands, moving around the outside of his hands, making some rudimentary knuckle guards before moving into the palm of his hands, completing the handles. He seemed to specialize in speed and acrobatics, going through several rabbit punches before performing several flips and rolls to stand several feet behind where he started. I couldn't help but note, even at this distance, the peculiarity of his eyes. They were entirely white, not a hint of an iris or a pupil, for that matter.

I ask Yang about this, "Is Fox blind?" Yang looks at him and nods, a little sadness in her voice when she answered. "Yes, he's been that way for quite some time. It's tied into why he's covered in scars. When he was young, his family house was set on fire by the people who thought they were harboring criminals. His family was killed, and he was badly hurt and burned when he escaped the house. The fire completely burned his eyes out. But some people, Yatsuhashi's parents, found him and tried to heal him. They were able to give him new eyes, but the optic nerves were beyond repair. So he changed his eyes to make them pure white, to remind everyone what happened to him. Now he "sees" with his exceptional sense of hearing, and you'd never guess he couldn't see, with how well he gets around and fights. He and Yatsuhashi have been inseparable ever since."

We both look over to see that Fox has stopped practicing, "looking" over at us, apparently being able to hear our conversation. I nod to him; he nods back, and then returns to his routine. I look back to Yang, saying "I respect the hell out of that one. He overcame something that would've destroyed a lesser man. And he didn't just survive, he's thrived in the face of the bad hand he was dealt." I see a smile creeping over Fox's face, the first emotion I've seen on the young man's face.

"Well," I hear Jaune say, "I think that everybody is ready to start. You ready Grun?" I nod and went over to the board that Glynda had set up for us. My name was on one side, taking up seven slots, with the rest of the team's names on the other. The teams had set up some random, impartial ballot that showed who would be going up against me in order, whether it were single bouts or two against one. After that bout with RWBY, I didn't want to overexert myself again, so we set the two people limit. Oddly enough, most of the matches were two against one, with the exception of Yang and Blake being the only ones who opted to go one on one against me. The chart read: **Pyrrha/Jaune Ruby/Weiss Coco/Velvet Fox/Yatsuhashi Ren/Nora Blake Yang**. There were set time limits, at only fifteen minutes per match, so that everybody got a fair share of time, giving me ample time in between matches to rest.

Each group was connected to a copy of my name by a line running between them. They had decided that they would mark out the names of the losing team and then circle the winning team's name before moving to the next bout.

I drop off my battle boots and my armor, making sure to leave every scrap of metal here so that Pyrrha couldn't use it against me. When I moved to the middle of our sparring stage, I was barefoot and shirtless, openly showing everyone my scars and tattoos. I saw in the corner of my eye Yang, as well as Coco and Velvet blush and stare at me hungrily. I roll my eyes and say, "Pick your tongues off the floor, ladies. We're getting ready to start the fights here and I don't need you eye humping me when I'm trying to concentrate." None of them look away and I hear Yang whisper to Coco, "Too late." This causes Coco and Velvet to giggle. I pointedly ignore them and moved to stand before Jaune and Pyrrha, Blitz and Macht already in my hands.

Jaune and Pyrrha look at me, slightly embarrassed at what just happened. I shrug and say, "Don't worry about it, little brother. Concentrate on the fight." Jaune nods and takes his position, next to Pyrrha who takes an almost identical stance. I nod and take my own stance, low and wide, while my will my Tonfa to form. Glynda watches us, nodding when she is satisfied and yells, "BEGIN!"

Jaune and Pyrrha waste no time in closing the distance between us, looking to overwhelm me before I have a chance to defend myself. I expected this, however, and easily block to swings of both of their swords as they fly toward my chest. "Hmm," I think, "They aren't holding back this time. I'm going to have watch these two." I swing my weapons, throwing their blades away from me and back flip away from them, stopping several feet away from them.

When I right myself, I only see Jaune standing before me, smiling as he charges me. We clash and our weapons ring against each other. While Jaune is attacking my front, I hear Pyrrha's spear come whistling in from behind me, aiming at my back. I spin and duck, dodging the spear so that it strikes Jaune in the middle of his shield. Before it falls, I grab it, twirl it and smack Jaune in the back of the head, stunning him and dropping him to the floor for a moment. I then turn and hurl the spear back at Pyrrha, but before it hits her, she uses her semblance to slow it and catch it as it goes past her. She completes her turn, looking to charge me once more, unaware that I took off towards her during her turn.

I was upon her before it registered and I used my Tonfa to chop her across the back of her neck, causing her to black out. I catch her before she falls, gently setting her to the floor. I hear a grunt as Jaune is pulling himself to his feet, having recovered. He sees me dispatching his partner. He yells and runs at me, swinging wide and looking to take me out. I deftly duck his swing and jab him in the solar plexus with the short end of my Tonfa, knocking him out as well.

"That's the match!" Glynda yells. She looks at her watch, seeing that it only lasted three minutes. She wrote this time over the line connecting our names and crossing out Jaune and Pyrrha's names. "Next up is Ruby and Weiss." I helped Jaune and Pyrrha make their way to the benches, both of them panting heavily. I ruffle both of their hair before moving back to the field.

Ruby already has her scythe out, eager to start the fight. Weiss is spinning her dust revolver in her rapier, setting it to the red crystal. I take hold of my weapons and change them to the twin Sais. I take a casual stance and nod to Glynda. She tells us to begin, which causes Ruby to sprint at me, trying to keep me busy while Weiss got her Glyphs ready. Ruby and I are trading blows, each of us quickly attacking and blocking blow, neither of us scoring a hit on the other.

I see Weiss point her blade at me, a big red Glyph forming just before me. As a large column of fire flies towards me, Ruby quickly side steps to get clear of it. I quickly hit the ground, flattening myself so that the flame passes over me without hitting me. I realize my mistake a second too late, seeing that Weiss had set a trap for me, pinning me to the ground with a binding Glyph. I struggle to get free, while Ruby charge me again, aiming to take me out while I'm immobile. I scramble to think of a way to escape without using my semblance, not wanting to overpower them so soon.

A thought hits me, "This Glyph only keeps me from standing up. So what if.." I quickly roll onto my back, blocking Ruby's blow with my Sais, then bending over myself to deliver a kick, launching her into Weiss, causing her to break her Glyph so she can catch her partner. After I get free, I leap away, giving myself space to breathe and think. "By Dust these girls are even stronger than last time!"

Once the girls detangle themselves from each other, they take up their stances again. I take up a defensive stance, taking them more seriously this time. Weiss spins her blade so that it is pointed across her chest at me, before charging me with blinding speed. She closes the distance between us in a flash, slamming the end of her blade into my chest, sending me backwards while Ruby slips behind me and starts raining down blows on me, causing large bruises to form on my arms as I curl up to block her attacks.

I can see that my Aura is steadily dropping, almost falling into the orange. I finally spin quickly and deliver another hard kick to Ruby's midsection. She went flying into a wall, causing her to drop her weapon as she passed out. Weiss charged me once again, trying to catch me off guard. But I spin and knock her blade aside, swinging my other Tonfa at her temple, it connects and she promptly falls over, unconscious. I stand there, panting and sweating profusely. I look to Glynda, who nods and says, "Match over!" This time the match lasted nearly six minutes.

She writes this down and crosses out Weiss and Ruby. She is about to call the next match, but I cut her off, saying, "Hang on guys, I need a break." Glynda nods and says, "Five minutes, then we're back to it." I nod back and start collecting Weiss, while Ren and Nora pick up Ruby. We lay them on the bleachers, so that I can pour a little Aura into them to help them heal and wake them up.

Their eyes pop open, each of them groaning as they feel the pain from the fight. Weiss looks at me and says, "You don't go easy on your opponents." I smile and say, "If I went easy on you, you wouldn't realize your full potential. You wouldn't expect a Beowulf or an Ursa to take it easy on you would you? So I try to push you, to help you be ready for it."

Weiss squints at me, but she nods, understanding my rationale. I smile and say, "Can I borrow some dust? I need to replenish my Aura." Weiss frowns but hands me a small vial of green Dust. I pull the stopper out and place a hand over the top, slowly willing my hand to absorb the Dust. As it enters me, I feel my energy returning and my Aura gauge refills itself back to full. I sigh in relief and say, "Thanks, Ice Princess." She glares at me but I just laugh and head back out onto the arena.

"Ok Glynda," I say. "I'm ready again. Let's get this started." Glynda nods at me then points to Coco and Velvet. They nod and move to stand before me. I smile at them and they smile back. I turn my weapons into their blade whip forms, spinning them lazily while they ready themselves. They both have some kind of hand bag at their sides, checking to make sure they were ready. "This should be interesting," I think to myself.

"Begin!" Glynda calls. Velvet and Coco don't charge me, instead they slowly circle me in opposite directions, slowly flanking me and waiting for me to make a move. When they are both even with my sides, I lash out, flinging a whip at each of them, hoping to tangle them up and end this quickly.

Both of the girls react quickly, Coco dropping low while Velvet jumps high in the air. Seeing Velvet as the easier target, I leap up and towards her, whipping both blades at her, looking to knock her down. She is closer to the wall than I guess, however, and kicked off of it sailing over me and landing next to Coco, who had changed her bag into the mini gun Yang told me about.

I bury the ends of my blades into the wall, holding there like a fly to admire the weapon. "By Dust," I think to myself, "That really is a big bastard." She unleashes her gun at me, looking to rain bullets upon me in hopes of draining my aura. I unstick my blades and fall to the floor, spinning them into a blinding figure eight, deflecting the bullets easily.

While I'm distracted with this, Velvet transforms her weapon as well, the bag now on her back connecting to the one in her hand by a hose. The large bag was now twin tanks on her back while the one in her hand turned into some sort a nozzle. My eyes widen as I yell at her, "Is that a Dust damned Flame Thrower!?" She smiles as she pulls the trigger, sending not just a jet of fire at me, but also what seems like a beam of ice. I panic, knowing that my weapons can't deflect that.

I leap high up into the air and loop one of my whips around a rafter, dangling above the storm of bullet, fire and ice that descended on the spot I just occupied. I whistle, impressed that such a slight woman would be able to weird such a terrifying weapon. The girls see that I am no longer where they were shooting at and try to find me. I jump down towards them, spinning my whips as I fall, entangling their arms with the flat parts of the blades so I don't hurt them.

With their arms unable to move, they drop their weapons, not being able to believe that I caught them. I stand before them, panting heavily and ask them, "Do you give up?" The look at each other than nod to each other. I let them loose and they sink to the floor, exhausted, both of their Auras depleted from the continuous strain from firing at me then keeping my whips from hurting them.

I smile at them when Glynda says "Match goes to Grun" I walk over to help them and help them up. "Do you know why I was able to get away from you?" They both shake their heads, waiting for me to continue. "It's because your own weapons blinded you. The muzzle flashes from your gun, as well as the bright flame from you flame thrower basically caused your pupils to constrict so that you wouldn't go completely blind. However, this causes a minor case of tunnel vision, making it near impossible to notice that I had moved away."

The both nod at me, understanding what I was saying. Glynda says, "That match was ten minutes long." She writes the number and crosses out Coco and Velvet from the list. Next, Fox and Yatsuhashi took the stage, waiting for me. I could tell that Fox liked to get up close with his bladed vanguards, so I match his style. My bladed gauntlets flow over my hands and forearms, settling into the form I was so familiar with. Fox and I took similar stances, while Yatsuhashi took to holding his giant sword up and to the side of him, ready to strike.

After Glynda gives us the signal, Fox and I fly at each other, trading blows with blinding speed. I noticed that Fox didn't focus his blows at my midsection, but instead at my arms and shoulders, as if he was trying to keep me from being able to fight. He lands a few glancing blows off of my biceps, which causes my arms to drop down to my sides. Trying to press his advantage, Fox moves in closer, trying to end it. But I duck low under his swing and raise up quickly, driving a knee up into his chest.

While he is bent over catching his breath, I leap back and access my arms. I feel something off about them, realizing that there was foreign Aura in them, blocking the flow of my own Aura. I shoot Aura at the blocks, pushing them out of the way, and then absorbing the Aura. I look at Fox, nodding in appreciation. "So," I say to him, "You can send your own Aura into somebody, blocking the flow of their Aura to incapacitate them. That is quite a power you have there." Fox only nodded to acknowledge me.

It took me a moment to realize that I didn't see Yatsuhashi anymore. I hear a whistling behind me, making me turn to see him slamming his sword down at me, looking to crush me. I dodge to the side, barely escaping the attack. I see that the sword causes a giant crater to form where I just was, easily three feet deep and just as wide.

My eyes widen at this, realizing what could cause it. "You have a gravity based semblance, don't you?" I ask the large warrior. He only nods, picking his blade back up and swinging it sideways at me, aiming for my legs. I leap over the blade and gently touch it with a finger, using Blitz's semblance to increase the gravity on his blade, cranking it up to 5Gs, causing it to bury itself into the floor. While Yatsuhashi tries to process this, I swing my legs and catch him in the temple, knocking unconscious and sending him sprawling. Fox reacts instantly, showing the first emotion I've seen from him. He growls at me and charges me, looking to avenge his friend.

Knowing what Fox could do, I kept Aura constantly flowing through my limbs, negating his attacks when they connect. I can feel my energy depleting, but it isn't near as fast as Fox's. He is constantly pouring his Aura into me, draining his bar faster than he can replenish it. Suddenly, when it drops to the red, he stops fighting and simply collapses.

I am panting loudly; sweat pouring off of me in sheets. Glynda yells, "Match!" and writes down the time. Twelve minutes, forty five seconds. "Damn," I think to myself, "Those two new how to work together. They almost had me there." I raise my hand and shout, "Break!" I move over to the bench and flop down, exhausted. I feel Yang walk up behind me and start rubbing my shoulders, her bust pressing into the back of my head. I lean back and take in her scent as well as the sensations.

"Mmm," I moan. "Dust but that feels good." Yang giggles and plants a quick peck on my cheek. "Just want to make sure you're at your best when we have out bout." She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me deeper into her cleavage. This causes Jaune and Coco to whistle at me, companied by cries of, "Get a room!" I send a friendly bird in their direction, causing more laughter.

"Enough with the PDA, Grun," Glynda snaps at me. "Time for the next match." I sigh heavily and detangle myself from Yang, moving back to floor. "I'm not looking forward to this," I mutter to myself. That Nora chick is a borderline beast. Ren is fast and nimble, so he could keep me distracted while Nora tried to clobber me.

"Start" I hear Glynda say. Nora immediately turns her weapon into the grenade launcher, firing round after round at me, trying to pin me down. Ren deftly moves between the rounds, dodging them as he makes his was to me. Ren starts trading blow with me, his bladed pistols trying to knock my Tonfa out of my hands.

I keep dodging and deflecting attacks, waiting for an opening. Finally I see one when Ren accidently steps into a crated created by Nora's grenade. He stumbles, allowing me to grab him and throw him into the path of one of Nora's incoming ammo. It explodes and throws him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. This upsets Nora greatly, roaring as she charges me, her giant war hammer in hand.

I use my Tonfa to keep pushing her hammer away from me, each time her swings getting closer. Finally it happens, her hammer connects with me. Mid swing, she hits a trigger, using the blast from a grenade in the hammer to launch me across the stage. I slam into a wall on the other end of the arena. I hear an explosion and see Nora riding her hammer through the air at me, before she twists and spins, looking to slam her hammer into me.

Panicking I struggle to free myself from the wall, but to no avail. Finally I change my Tonfa into a whip, snaking it out to wrap around a rafter before circling her hammer. The result is me using her own momentum to pull me from the wall, launching me at her at a speed matching hers. She panics, not expecting this, which allows me to grab hold of her waist and taking her down to the floor with me, her landing on her back.

I raise myself up off of her, seeing that she was out. I look at my aura meter to see it was a scant hair from falling into the red. "Match!" Glynda says. "Fourteen minutes, thirty seconds." She marks off Nora and Ren, letting me go back to sitting to heal. Yang hands me a bottle of water and some more of Weiss's green Dust. I down both of them, feeling much better already.

I smile at her, saying "Thanks babe." She smiles and kisses me softly, responding with, "Anytime, Hun." I lean back for a moment, exhausted. Glynda gives me a couple extra minutes, seeing how winded I was. Finally she told me to take my place; I did and went to stand before Blake, ready to spar. She takes out her blades, ready to fight. I use my whip blades, wanting to match her reach with her large whip like form of the two blades.

"Begin!" Blake immediately starts firing rounds at me, looking to pin me down so she can move in. I repeat my figure eight defense, slowly circling her trying to find a weak point. She found one first. She leapt up over me, using her whip to tangle up my own spinning blades. She then moves in with her other sword, slashing and stabbing at me. I duck and dodge her attacks, trying to figure a way to detangle myself from her. I switch the whips to their solid blade forms, cutting through the rope holding them. I press the attack to her, while she used both of her blades to block mine.

After some time of trading blows, we wind up locked together, each trying to press the other into submission. I was going to try that trick I used on Pyrrha, but Blake once again beat me to it. She backed off, causing me to stumble. However, instead of falling, I rolled into it, coming up a few feet from her.

Both of our Auras were close to depleted. As we charged each other again, I heard Glynda shot out "Time!" We both stopped at the same time, looking to her. "Fifteen minutes are up. Seeing as you are both standing and your Auras are at the same level, I declare this match a tie."

She circles both our names, putting a big "T" in the middle of our names. We both nod and head to the bleachers. I slump down heavily, resting against Yang. She holds me and squeezes me. "You were amazing, Grun." I smile at her and start snoring lightly, falling asleep for a brief power nap. Yang gently wakes me, "Grun it's time to start our match."

I snort and wake up fully, "Huhwhuh?" I look around, remembering where we are. I stretch and stand up, working out the stiffness in my muscles. "Ok baby," I say to her. "Ready when you are." We walk out to the floor, standing in front of each other. We both don our gauntlets, silently agreeing to fight equally.

Glynda finally says, "Begin" and we launch forward, meeting a couple inches away from each other, while we started raining blows down upon each other. We are both deftly blocking and deflecting hits, not letting the other land a single hit. Yang gets a look on her face, as if she realized something. "You're holding back against me, aren't you?" This causes me to mistime a punch, letting her grab my hand and flipping me.

She glares down at me, saying, "Why are you holding back?" I look away, ashamed that she caught me. "I didn't want to accidently hurt you." She moves about a foot away, letting me pick myself up. She looks at me and says, "I want this to be a real bout, Grun. No holding back." Seeing me hesitate, she puts one hand on her hip and points to me and says, "If you don't fight me seriously, I won't do that one thing you like anymore. With the whipped cream and chocolate syrup."

This causes the others to look away and blush, myself included. "Dust damn it Yang," I mutter. "That was low." She fires back with, "So was not fighting me seriously." I hang my head and say, "Ok, fine. I'll be serious this time." I take a ready position and wait for Yang to come to me.

Yang nods and flies to me, fists at the ready. Instead of meeting her head on, however, I grab her wrist and flip her onto her back, kneeling next to her, my gauntlet pointed at her throat. "Do you give up?" I ask her. She smiles and fires a round from her gauntlet, launching herself away from me and taking one of my legs out from under me in the process. I pick myself up off the floor to see her charging me again.

I hit the switch in my gauntlets, sending the claws flying outwards, hurtling towards Yang. Her eyes grow wide, seeing what had happened unable to change her direction in time to get way. The chains that lead from the claws to my knuckles wrap around Yang, tangling her limbs up. I leap towards her, retracting some of the slack as I go.

I land in front of her, a smile on my face. "Now do you give up?" She is trying to wriggle her way loose, but the chains are too tight. By some fluke, her gauntlets were pointed back at herself, so she couldn't shoot at me or try to pull me off balance by firing rounds. She finally sighs and nods to me. I smile wider and detangle her from my claw. Putting them away, I walk up to her and wrap her in my arms.

She wraps her arms around me and kisses my neck. "I told you you'd be able to beat me," she whispers in my ear. This sends a hot chill down my spine, her throaty whisper and hot breath driving me crazy. However, I come to my senses when I hear Glynda clear her throat. "Match goes to Grun. That's six wins for Grun, with one tie to Blake. Looks like Grun wins."

I smile at this and walk over to our friends, before flopping down on a bleacher and promptly falling asleep, snoring very loudly.

_**Yang's POV**_

I watch Grun sleep off his fights on the bleacher, wanting to make him comfortable, but afraid that any movement would wake him. Most nights, I had discovered, Grun was a very light sleeper. Any noise would jostle him awake, a look of fear on his face. Then he quickly recovers, rubbing his face before lying back down. Poor dear, he can never forget that fateful night. He's constantly afraid that someone is trying to get in to kill him, or more importantly in his eyes, Me.

I asked him about it once or twice, but he just laughed it off, trying to change the subject. I let him, not wanting to press the issue, but I couldn't help but worry about my love. Was there anything I could do to help alleviate his fears? Most nights I just held him closer, my presence seeming to calm him down.

But then I began to wonder, "How many nights did he wake up like that? Alone, scared, without anyone to comfort him? How many times has he been unable to go back to sleep because I wasn't there with him?" These thoughts tore my heart to pieces, not being able to do anything to help him. If only I could always be at his side, but he wasn't wanting me to move in with him. "If you aren't living at Beacon, it'll become a pain for you to get to and from classes. And that'll make you start hating school. And I don't want that, I want you to finish school, so that you have a chance to be all that you can." I pressed the issue a couple of times, saying that there were several students her traveled a lot farther than that to get to school every day, but he wouldn't budge.

"The man is just as stubborn as me," I thought out loud as I sat down next to him, slowly moving him so his head was on my lap. This made him smile in his sleep and cuddle against me, sleeping deeper. I smiled and thought, "But that's one of the things I love so much about him." I saw the others looking at me, smiling. I smile back and say, "I'll catch up to you guys later. I'm going to stay here with Grun until he wakes up." They all nodded and walked off, to either take their showers or get something to eat.

I continue to hold Grun for twenty minutes before he finally stirs and wakes up. He looks around, confused at first, as well as a little scared. But at me whispering his name, he remembers where he is. He looks at me and smiles a sleepy smile before kissing me. "Morning baby, you want to get some food?"

I giggle at this and say, "It's early afternoon, baby." He smiles and says, "Oh ya. Well you want to get some dinner then?" I nod and help him to his feet. Before we move though, his scroll starts to buzz. A curious look crosses his face before answering it, as a blocked number showed up on the screen. "Hello?" He asks hesitantly.

I can't hear much from the other line, except that it's some kind of robotic garbled voice. Whatever they said to Grun, though, caused all of the color to drain from his face. He starts to shake violently as he growls into the scroll. "WHERE!?" He nods and barks out a curt, "Alright." Before hanging up. He stares at the scroll for a moment before hurling against a nearby wall and screams "DUST DAMN IT ALL!" He starts running to the door, forgetting that I was there. I hurry to catch up to him, trying to get his attention. He can't hear me, though and keeps going. Finally I grab his arm and shout, "GRUN!"

He turns to me with a look on his face that spelled absolute bloodlust and rage. I back away in fear, never having seen this side of him before. He calms down though, seeing the fear in my eyes and he finally stops and talks to me. "I'm sorry Yang; I shouldn't have acted like that to you. It wasn't fair." He sighs heavily and looks at me, fear painting his face.

"Grun," I coax him, "Who was on the scroll? What did they want?" He slowly works up the energy and says, "It was a member of the white fang." My stomach drops hearing this, scared to hear what they wanted. "They said that they have Emma and Erin, and that they want me to come to Warehouse Six on the docks, where they will return them to their grandparents after I have been secured. I'm going to meet them at dusk, to make the trade."

My heart leaps into my throat, not believing what was happening. "You can't go, Grun, they'll kill you and the kids." This caused Grun to whirl around and scream at me, "SO WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO? SIT BACK AND LET THEM KILL MY CHILDREN?!" I flinch at him screaming, having never seen him this pissed off before. I put my hand on his arm, prepared for him to pull it away. I can see the thought cross his face, but his eyes widen when he realizes he had the thought, and he slowly deflates, the steam of his rage pouring out of him, replaced by fear and desperation.

I held him close and tried to soothe him. I heard running footsteps coming towards us. I look up to see my team, JNPR and CFVY sprinting towards us, concern on their faces. They see me holding a weeping Grun, not sure what could affect him so.

Jaune was the first to ask me, "Yang, what the hell happened? We could hear Grun on the other side of the school." I look to Grun, who meets my eyes and nods, letting me know it's ok to tell them. I take a deep breath and say, "The White Fang contacted Grun after you all left. They said that they had his children and that he had to meet them tonight at dusk for them to free them."

Shock painted everybody's faces, except for Jaune, who was shaking with unbridled rage. "After all these years, they're pulling this shit?! How dare they?" CFVY and the rest of JNPR look confused, since they weren't in on my previous affiliations. Coco asked, "Wait, why the hell is the White Fang after Grun? What did he ever do to them?" I'm about to make up some halfhearted excuse, but Grun stood up, shaking his head as he looked at the other teams.

"It's ok Yang," He says to me. "I'm going to tell them the truth." He looked all of them in the eyes and said, "My name is Grun Abscheulichkeit, former leader of the White Fang." This caused everybody to stare at Grun, dumbfounded. He went on to say, "Three years ago, I was betrayed by my comrades. They tried to kill me, but I escaped and killed several of them in the process. I made it home in time to hold my wife as she died, murdered by my former comrades. I took my kids and ran, hiding them away from the eyes of the White Fang, desperately trying to do anything to keep them safe, while I hunted for the man who killed my wife. Somehow he found them, and now he has them. So now I have to go back to those who betrayed me once and hope that in killing me, they will spare my kids."

Grun said this with such detached emotion, it scared me. He was talking about letting his enemies kill him so casually, as if he wasn't worried about it. And then I realized something; he wasn't. He would happily accept his own demise if it meant his kids were safe. This made me furious, as I grabbed his shirt and spun him around to face me.

"So you will gladly march to your death on the slim chance your former comrades will be merciful after they kill you?" I look into his eyes, seeing resignation there. He responded with no heat, only acceptance. "Yes." This tore my heart in two, starting to see the true depth of his capacity to love.

"Well I'm not happy to let you do it," I growl at him. "I'm going with you. We are going to take out anybody who gets in our way and take our kids back." He looks at me coolly and asks, "Are you prepared to kill whoever gets in your way?" This takes me aback, not expecting him to ask this question. He continues by saying, "Because that is what it is going to take to get through them. You have to remember; these people aren't the same Faunus searching for peace all those years ago. They are zealots, radicalized warriors prepared to die for what they believe in, and ready to kill anyone who tries to stop them. Are you ready to face your enemies with that same conviction? Are you ready to snuff out life after life, to save our kids?" He emphasized the "Our" as he said it, picking up what I had said.

When I don't answer right away, he smiles at me. "I'm glad that you don't have an answer right away. It means that you still hate killing somebody, even if it is justified. Trust me when I say this, even the most justified killing will still tear you apart from the inside." Pain fills his eyes as he remembers. "I can recall every man I have killed, trying to find Adam. Every thug I squeezed for information, every man who took innocent lives, every rapist pedophile and mutilator. I killed so many men without hesitation, knowing that I was ridding the world of some filth. But it isn't until later that it hits you. No matter what they did, they were still people. They were still a person who started out as somebody's child, even if life or bad circumstances turned them into who they became."

He looks down and shakes, "Every speck of blood on my hands is the price I have paid for trying to protect my children. I do not regret the decisions I made, but I am still paying the price on my mind and my soul for becoming the very thing I've grown to hate; a monster. A bloodthirsty killer who can justify every death he has dealt." Grun is staring down at his hands, almost as if he can see every death and all the pain he has inflicted in his hands.

I reach over and take his hands, squeezing them and making him look up at me. When he meets my gaze, I say, "You are no monster Grun. The difference between you and the people you have killed is that they did what they did because they enjoyed it. You did it because you were protecting people that you love." I squeeze Grun's hands harder and say, "I am willing to stand by your side so we can go rescue our kids. I will help you pile up the bodies and I will stand at your side, letting my soul be stained by the same blood that stains yours. I am with you Grun, now and forever."

_**Switches to Grun's POV**_

I stare at Yang, completely not being able to believe what she just told me. "She is willing to taint her soul for me and our kids?" I think to myself. "She loves me that much that she will dive into blood and death without a second thought?" I pull her against me and hold her tightly.

"We're going to help you two, brother." I hear behind me. I turn around to find Jaune standing in front of the three teams, every single one of them nodding in agreement. "Emma and Erin are our friends too. And so are you. We are going to help you get them back. And we will kill anyone in our way." I look to Weiss and Blake, seeing them hesitant but finally agreeing.

"Guys," I plead, "I can't ask you guys to be a part of this. It's not right dragging you into it." Coco steps up to me and points a finger into my chest, saying "Listen here Grun; you are not going to keep us out of this. We all care about you and we are going to help you, so don't try to talk us out of it. Got it?" I look down into those eyes, filled with fire. I slowly nod and say, "Very well. I'll gladly accept your help. Now we only have until Dusk to make a plan." Everybody nods and follows me to the library, so that we can make our plans. I take hold of Yang's hand, squeezing it tightly and kissing her gently, telling her, "I love your so much, Yang." She responds by saying, "I love you too Grun. With all my heart." We begin our planning as soon as the doors to the libraries close.

~End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello my lovelies, Nightengale here once more! I just wanted to let you all know before you get started in this chapter, it is going to get very dark, and pretty gory. Consider yourselves informed. Now, enjoy!**

_**A few hours after everyone meets in the library. Everyone has gone to prepare themselves, with Grun and Yang once more at Tavern on the Dock**_

**Grun's POV**

Yang and I are up in my room, not long after I gave everybody their tasks. I'm rummaging through my closet, pulling out my real clawed gauntlets. I walk over to Yang and hand them to her. She looks at me and frowns, saying, "I don't like this plan Grun. I don't like it at all." I wrap my arms around her and hold her close, whispering, "I know my love, but it's the only plan we have. I can only hope that it works."

I step away from Yang, taking Saphir Blitz and Diamant Macht from my arm holsters. I set them on my dresser before I reach into my gauntlet, withdrawing a third weapon similar to the other two. This one is colored a deep emerald; this one is called Smaragd Leere. I set it next to its two mates, looking at them. I turn to Yang and ask, "Do you have the Dust?" She nods and sets it next to the weapons. I nod and say, "I'm not certain this will work, but it's worth a shot. I'm probably going to become really weak, so be careful, Ok?" Again she nods, waiting for me to do what I was going to do.

I face my weapons and place my hands over them. I feel them out with my Aura, sensing the special crystals that were inside them. These crystals were what let me manipulate my Aura into weapons, acting as a conductor and amplifier, giving me the control I needed. I began to pour Aura into each of the weapons, but instead of sending out my Aura, I sent out my teams Auras, sending each person's Aura into their weapons. Slowly, they start to rise from the counter, moving to float in the middle of the floor. I continue to pour Aura into them, willing them to shape themselves according to the souls that now inhabit them. Slowly, they take the shapes of my teammates. Though they are similar to their bodies, one couldn't help but notice the slightly different tints of color on their skin.

When it is finished, I collapse to the floor, not used to only having my own Aura in my body after so long. Yang is by my side immediately, supporting me. I look up at my teammates, watching as they inspect their bodies, not believing that it was true. Yang brought me the Dust we set aside, letting me absorb it to steady myself. I slowly stand at look at my team, amazed that my crazy plan had worked.

Blitz looks at me and says, "Wow boss, I can't believe that it worked. I can't believe that we have our bodies back. This is amazing!" Blitz does a couple of spins, relishing in his body. Macht and Leere both look equally as shocked. They look at me, with Macht asking, "Any idea how long this will last?" This causes Blitz to stop spinning, remembering that this is only temporary. He looks at me as well.

I rub my face and say, "Honestly? I have no idea. The crystals that are circulating your guys' Aura are really powerful. If you didn't expend a bunch of energy, maybe three days? But with what we are about to do, I'd say it'd be closer to six hours after it kicks off, if you guys are really going to help me fight." This causes the three of them to glare at me, with Leere saying, "How could you even suggest that we wouldn't help you? We're a team and teams always help each other." I smile at this and nod, responding with, "Well, let's go then. Maybe we can talk your dad into helping us, fellas." The brothers shrug, knowing how bull headed their dad could be.

I walk down into the Tavern with Yang and my team in tow. As I walk up to Bull, he looks at me, curious at first, then he looks behind me, seeing Blitz and Macht standing behind us. This shocks Bull, not believing that his sons were standing before him again. I look at Bull, hating myself for doing this, but I needed all the help I could get. I say to him, "Bull, I don't have a lot of time. I need your help, and I was able to temporarily give them their bodies back so they could help me too. The White Fang has taken my kids, and I need your help to get them back."

Bull looks down at me, pain painting his face, before he nods and walks into the kitchen, grabbing the large double bladed battle axe hanging above the oven. He comes back out and nods, showing that he's ready. We all leave, locking up as we go, heading to meet the rest of my friends not far from the Warehouse so we could make sure everyone was ready.

We get there to find everyone else already present, decked out in full battle gear and looking ready to fight. I nod to each of them and call them close. When they get into a circle, I start mapping out our plan.

"Fox, Blake, Yang and Leere are going to sneak into the building at the back. Three of you possess very good skills when it comes to stealth, and two of you are familiar with the kids, so they shouldn't freak out when you get to them. You guys are to find them, get them away from whoever is guarding them, and escape back to the Tavern, where Jack and Jeanne will be waiting to take them." I look at them, especially at Yang. "You are not to deviate from this plan in the slightest, understood? Your top priority is to get yourselves in and all of you with the kids out. No matter what you see or hear, you do not go off plan. Got it?"

They all nod at me, though I can see Yang is a little slow to nod with them, not liking being away from me. But she was crucial to that piece of the plan. I nod in return and turn to the rest of team CFVY as well as team JNPR. "You guys are on standby in case shit hits the fan. With your guys' weapons, you're going to spray every White Fang member who is in front of you. Basically you kick in the front door and shoot anything that isn't us or my kids. The name of your game is 'Mass Destruction.' You're also going to be joined by Bull here," he nods to them, "because he can deal destruction with the best of them."

I then turn to team RWBY saying, "You guys are to come in from the sides, using your speed and power to catch them off guard. You guys will be joined by Blitz, and Macht." The both of them nodding to Ruby and Weiss, I continue to say, "They can move nearly as fast as you two and they're even stronger."

I look at them seriously, saying, "The same applies to all of you. DO. NOT. DEVIATE. No matter what you hear or see, do not lose sight of your objectives. If I need help, I will signal you. Is that understood?" I meet each of their eyes, each of them nodding to me, all with varying degrees of discomfort with agreeing to this, but knowing it was necessary. I nod in return and look out the window, seeing that the sun is nearly down.

"Alright guys," I say, "It's show time. Go and fight well. Good luck to you all." I start to walk out the door, but I am stopped by Yang. She has my gauntlets hanging from her hips, a serious look on her face. "Promise me Grun," she says to me. "Promise me that you are going to come back to me." I can see tears welling up in her eyes, so I pull her close and kiss her on the forehead, whispering to her. "I promise, my love. I will come back to you." She is close to shedding tears, but she smiles and nods. I turn away before my resolve completely dissolves.

I head to the Warehouse, entering it just before the sun falls. "ADAM!," I yell into the darkness. "I'm here like you wanted! Come out here and release my kids!" I squint as spot lights shine down on me, momentarily blinding me. As I get my bearings I see that I am surrounded by the White Fang, hundreds upon hundreds of them. "By Dust," I think to myself. "Where did he find all of them?" I hear loud footsteps on the walkway up on the wall and see a man walk forward into the light.

He is wearing nothing but black, the only deviation of color being his white Grimm mask that covers half of his face as well as the shock of red hair, most of it swept back by the mask. I can just barely make out the horns hidden in his hair. I see him standing there, arrogant and proud of it, while he pulls on a chain hanging from his hand. Into the light walks….

"Kids!" I yell, seeing them huddled together. They are dirty and their clothes are torn, but they seem to be whole, just terrified. They look at me and scream, "Daddy! Help us! We want to go home!" Hearing the pain and terror in my children's voices tears my heart to pieces, hating myself for dragging them into this. Then my hate turns back on itself, aiming at Adam instead.

"Alright Adam," I yell at him. "I'm here now like we agreed. Now let them go. They aren't involved in this." I'm answered by a low smooth laugh, followed by him saying, "Oh no Grun, we agreed on you being secured before then." I am shaking uncontrollably with rage and hatred.

"Fine," I growl, "What do you want?" His answer is to nod to two Faunus near me. They step towards me, each of them holding a set of shackles. They grab me and force me to kneel, chaining my wrists together. They then place a large metal collar around my neck. I can feel small spikes poke into my neck, causing my Aura to completely drain from my body. I gasp and lean forward, suddenly completely weak. "What the hell is this?" I gasp. I hear Adam laugh again.

"That, my brother, is a collar made from the very rare Black Dust. It has the amazing ability to completely suppress a person's Aura, rendering them as weak as a babe." He smiles at me and says, "Or a pup." I turn to look at him, growling hate at him. The taller Faunus to my right reaches out and kicks me across the jaw, knocking me to my side. As they pick me back up onto my knees, I can feel a tooth moving in my mouth. I look at her and say, "Damn girl, you bout knocked a tooth out of my head."

The one to my left says, "Let me fix that for you." He turns and punches me on the other side of my face, sending the one tooth flying, as well as a few more. After they pick me up again, I spit out a piece of tooth and a wad of blood. "Alright Adam, You got what you wanted. Now let my kids go."

I see him smile under his mask, saying "Oh no Grun. What I want is to see you bloody and broken. Then I want to see you dead. Only then will I let them go." He nods to the two Faunus, who produce some weapons. I'm thinking quickly, panicking.  
>"Wait Adam," I shout in desperation. "At least send them away. I don't want them to see this. They shouldn't have to watch their father die as well." I can see Adam thinking this over, perhaps moments away from telling me no. But he finally shrugs and says, "Fine, I guess I can at least spare them a little pain." He looks to the man at his side, which I see as Roman. "Take them away. I'll come to get them when we are done here." Roman nods, taking the chains and leading my children away.<p>

I nod to Adam, not thanking him but at least acknowledging the kindness, no matter how small it may have been. He nods to the Faunus again, and they start to bring their weapons down upon me. I close my eyes and smile, knowing that at least my kids will escape.

**Yang's POV**

I'm crawling through an air duct, moving slowly and carefully, not wanting to make a sound. Fox, Blake, and Leere are ahead of me, crawling just as slow. Suddenly I hear Grun shouting from a vent next to me. I look through, knowing I needed to keep moving, but still wanting to make sure he was ok. What I see makes my blood cold. Grun is kneeling in the middle of the warehouse, his wrists shackled and a large collar around his neck. His face is swollen and I see blood on the floor near him. I start to cry as I hear him say, "At least send them away. I don't want them to see this. They shouldn't have to watch their father die as well."

I can't see who he is talking to, but I hear a man say, "Fine, I guess I can at least spare them a little pain." After a moment I hear him say, "Take them away. I'll come to get them when we are done here." Departing footsteps, followed by the sound of weapons hitting flesh, striking and swinging, doing everything they can to hurt Grun. I see this all, weeping openly, knowing that he is in pain, knowing there isn't a thing I can do. I start to crawl again but after a few yards I hear Grun speak, his voice thick and strained.

"You guys call that a beating?" He says to them. "I've been fucked worse than that." This is met with the sound of metal hitting bone. Though I hear him groan in pain, he goes on. "Seriously Adam? This is what you consider White Fang these days?" Another strike, another moan of pain. "Why are you doing this, Grun?" I think to myself. Then it dawns on me; he's doing everything he can to keep them focused on him, so that we can do what we need to do.

"I mean really," He keeps going. "Our picket sign waving, flower pushing, equality spewing nonviolent hippies could hit harder than these guys." Three hits in quick succession, followed by a heavy thump. Grun groans even louder, pain obvious in his voice.

"I have to keep moving," I think to myself. "I have to get to the kids." I start crawling again, moving quietly through the darkness, heading to our goal.

**Grun's POV again**

"By Dust," I think to myself, "This is really painful." I've been knocked down for the third time, the short man doing his damnedest to cave my skull in. As the woman picks me up again, she pulls out a straight razor, moving it to my shoulder. She purrs, "Adam, I'm quite tired of seeing him flaunting the old ink he doesn't deserve anymore. Can I take it from him?"

Adam smiles and nods to her, saying, "That is a wonderful idea, my dear. Proceed." She smiles and starts carving at my shoulder, cutting a large square outline around my White Fang tattoo. Once that is done, she starts sliding the blade under the tattoo, slowly sawing back and forth, taking her time in parting skin from muscle. This finally tears a full blown scream from my throat.

Once she is done, she holds my tattoo above her head for all to see, as if holding up a trophy. I lay panting on the floor, blood pouring freely from my shoulder. I could hear all of them cheering, reveling in my pain. I slowly push myself up to kneel again. I look at her and smile, blood coating what was left of my teeth.

"What's the matter honey?" I growl at her. "Was the foreplay too much for you? Too tired for the main event now? You were just finally starting to get my engine running. Maybe your pal here can keep it going." I look at Adam and shake my head. "Kids these days, Adam. Absolutely no stamina."

"I'll show you stamina," I hear the female growl. She stands behind me and starts slowly carving lines up and down my back, matching each my old scars with a fresh line. She goes at this for twenty minutes, though it felt like an eternity. I screamed the entire time, having never felt pain like this before.

When she if finally done, she shoves me forward onto my stomach, pinning me there with a heel into the largest cluster of wounds in my back. I howl in pain, eliciting more cheers from the crowd. I can feel myself starting to black out, but the man stops this by pouring a bag of salt onto my back. This wakes me back up, fire erupting across my back.

I can hear Adam laughing, applauding the what was going on. "Wonderful!" He cries, "Magnificent! A thousand orchestras couldn't match the beauty of this performance!" He leans forward on the railing, smiling widely at me. "However, brother dear, this is where your act must come to a close. I sincerely thank you for such a grand final piece, and I shall always treasure it. But now it is time to say goodbye." He looks to the two Faunus and says, "Finish it."

They lift me up so that I am kneeling again. The man grabs my hair and yanks my head back, exposing my neck. I can hear the female panting heavily, excited by what she got to do. She leans forward and places the blade against my neck. I close my eyes and think, "Emma, Erin I love you so much. I hope that your grandparents can do better for you than I did." A single tear falls from my eye as I think, "Yang, my dearest love, I'm sorry I broke my promise. I won't be coming back after all. Please take care of the children. I love you all so much."

I can feel her start to draw the blade, but before she breaks the skin, I hear a projectile whistling towards us. I open my eyes in time to see a round as bright as the sun hit the Faunus holding the blade full in the face. She flies backwards, blade spinning from her hand as her head is disintegrated. A second round comes in and hits the short male in the chest, blowing a hole clear through his heart, killing him as well. When I look up to see where they came from, I see a goddess flying to me, her hair a roaring inferno, her eyes shining the brightest crimson. She is coming to stand at my side. And she is PISSED.

She lands behind me, breaking through the shackles that held my wrists. She then reaches up to the collar, grabbing it and breaking it in half. I can feel my Aura flowing back to me instantly, knitting my skin and mending my bones, even repairing my broken and missing teeth. She hands me my gauntlets, urging me to take them. I nod and put them on, feeling the Dust that was sprinkled inside them absorb into my hands, hastening the healing.

"The kids?" I ask her, feeling alive again as my back is whole once more. She responds with, "They are safe. Your parents have them and they are on the move." I nod and finish locking my gauntlets into place, asking her, "The teams?" She looks around her, seeing something I cannot and says, "In place." I look up to Adam, pure hatred painting his face, seeing a human in his sanctuary. I smile at him and say, "Well then," lifting my arms above my head, "Let's get this party started." I throw my arms down, and all hell breaks loose.

The front doors fly in off of their hinges, crushing Faunus as they tumble end over end, stopping after about thirty feet. I look to the door to see Coco and Velvet standing behind Yatsuhashi and Bull, both of them having just destroyed the door. The girls step forward, weapons held before them, unleashing bullets, fire and ice into the crowd of stunned White Fang.

Screams of pain are cut short as enemies are mowed down. The Fang try to regroup, only to be jump from the sides, teams RWBY, JNPR and the rest of my team GMBL flying in through windows. Each of them set about annihilating every enemy that gets near them. The White Fang might have numbers, but my teams had training, plus the element of surprise. They never stood a chance.

I am grinning like a madman now, seeing Adam leap down to the floor, running to get at me. I sprint at him, matching his desire to kill. Before he reaches me, he hits a trigger on the sheath of his sword, using a round to launch it at me, hoping to stun me. However, after all of our years of sparring, I knew this trick well. I duck under the blade, launching my chain claws as I do. He leaps over them and lands behind me, grabbing his sword and swinging it at me.

I barrel roll away from him, swinging my claws in great arcs, hoping to catch him in the spin. He dodges, though, and speeds in towards me, looking to impale me with his sword. Before he gets to me, however, Yang fires one of her rounds at his head. He ducks under it and slides under me, while I bound away and recover myself. Yang comes to my side, reloading her shells as she does. I look to her and nod, ready to start our dance again.

We fly to Adam, rounds firing, claws swinging, looking to get to him. He blocks our attacks and sends us flying backwards. When we land, I push Yang to the side, throwing myself in the opposite direction. Adam's sword buries itself in the spot the Yang and I were just in. I spin on my claw, swinging my legs and catching Adam in the head, knocking him away from his sword. I follow him, looking to bury my claws in his stomach.

Adam uses his semblance to absorb my momentum, stopping me in my tracks. He then launches a burst of energy at me. I dodge it, but he wasn't aiming for me. It explodes just behind his sword, launching it to his hands. I growl and dash at him again, using my semblance to absorb the energy he tries to use against me.

This catches Adam off guard; I'd never been able to do that before. I move to him and quickly bury my claws into his chest. I then send him flying with a blast of Aura. As he goes flying, Yang jumps after him, looking to finish him off. I yell at Yang, "Don't!" But it's too late, Adam has his blade pointed outwards, impaling Yang through the stomach.

My entire world comes to a grinding halt, not believing that this was happening again. I could see the blood dripping out of Yang, the Aura draining from her hair. Her arms fall to his side and she starts to slide off of the blade. When she hits the floor, the moment breaks. I howl at the top of my lungs, "YAAAAAAANNNNG!"

I sprint to her side, holding her in my arms and openly weeping. "No. No no no. Not again!" I don't notice Adam walking up to me, looking to decapitate me. Before he swings, however, he is hit in the chest with two blade whips. This sends him flying back, slamming into the wall. I see a white blur speed past me, knowing that it is Blitz. He buries his Tonfa into Adam's shoulders, pinning him to the wall.

In the next instant, Leere speeds past as well, spiking Adams kneecaps into the wall with her Sais. She then turns to me, rushing to my side and starts trying to heal Yang. I get up and stalk over to Adam, dropping my gauntlets as I do. He is glaring at me, knowing that the end is near. I stop just before him, staring into his eyes.

"Well Grun," he coughs, "You finally accepted the animal within yourself. These humans will never accept you after seeing you for what you are. You will always be a monster in their eyes." I reach up and wrap my hands around his neck, saying, "I accepted that role a long time ago. If that is the price to protect the ones I love, so be it." I activate my semblance, drawing his Aura into my hands.

I don't absorb his Aura, only collecting it into my hands. He slowly dies at my touch, screaming in pain and fear. After emptying his body of every last speck of Aura, I hold it in my hands. I then crush it, destroying his soul. I then turn and go back to Yang's side, weeping once more.

"Leere," I beg, "Is there anything you can do?" She shakes her head, crying as she says, "His blade was coated with that Black Dust. There is just enough in her wound to keep me from closing it and healing her. It would take too much Aura for me to remove the Dust and safely heal her. It would likely kill us both."

I look down into Yang's eyes, seeing her smile at me. "It's ok Grun, everybody is safe." I start weeping harder; not wanting to lose another loved one. "Don't cry Grun, our time together may have been short, but it was the happiest days of my life. I love you with all my heart, Grun. Don't even forget that." Her eyes close and her hand drops from mine.

My mind is racing a mile a minute, "Don't panic Grun," I think to myself. "She isn't dead yet. You can still feel her Aura. You still have time to do something." I look at her wound, seeing tiny streaks of black in the wound. "Leere said that it would take too much Aura to remove the Dust as well as heal her. But what if one person poured all of their Aura into the wound, while letting Leere do the healing?" I nod to myself, and turn to Leere.

"Leere," I say. She looks at me with tears in her eyes. "I need you to be ready. I'm going to expel that damned Dust from her, and then you can heal her." I can see Leere start to protest, but I cut her off. "Damn it Leere," I shout at her, "We don't have time to argue! Just do it! That's an order!"

Leere's eyes fill with pain, but she nod, getting ready. I place my hands over Yang's stomach, leaning down to give her one last kiss. "I love you Yang," I whisper to her. "All I want is for you to live, even if I can't be there with you. Please, my love. I don't deserve it, but I hope you can find it in your heart to eventually forgive me."

I concentrate, sending my Aura deep into her wound. I can feel the Black Dust greedily eating up all of it. But I can also feel the streaks slowly start to disappear. I keep pouring Aura into her, not daring to let up in fear of succumbing to fatigue. I can feel myself weakening; my eyes begin to have tunnel vision. But still I keep going.

My breath is getting short and I can feel my heart weakening. My arms threaten to fall away, but I keep them on her wound through sheer force of will. I can feel as the last of my Aura passing into Yang, as the last speck of Dust disappears. I fall back away from Yang, Leere taking my place and immediately starts mending her organs, connecting veins and healing skin.

I hear Yang gasp and shoot up into a sitting position, turning to me and shouting, "Grun! No, what have you done?" I smile and say, "What I couldn't do three years ago. I saved the woman I love." My vision begins to fade to black, not being able to hear Yang anymore, though I can feel her on my chest, weeping openly. The last thing I feel before everything fades away is Yang clutching at my chest.

**Yang's POV **

I feel the last of Grun's Aura fade away, his heart stops, as well as his lungs. But he is smiling. He's at peace. He saved the people he loved most, and that was good enough for him. I'm crying horribly, screaming his name, begging him to come back to me. "Please Grun!" I shout, "You promised me you would come back! I'm begging you, don't leave me alone."

I spin when I hear an unknown voice behind me sigh and say, "Oh Grun, what are we going to do with you?" I look behind me and see a woman in a plain white dress. If I didn't know better, she could've been my twin. Only subtle differences were what set us apart. Where my long hair was a curled mess, hers was ruler straight. Her hair was also a darker shade of blonde, more honey colored than my golden. There is something familiar about this woman, like I've seen her before.

She smiles at me and say, "Hello Yang, I'm Arianna. It's about time we met." My head is spinning, not believing what was happening. "You're Grun's wife?" I ask her unbelieving. She smiles and says "Technically I'm his widow." She frowns and thinks, "Ex-wife? No, no, we didn't get divorced. I'm not sure what were would be called, but that's beside the point." She smiles again and says, "So, are we going to stand here chatting, or are we going to save Grun?"

I jump up, saying, "What do you mean? We can save him?" Arianna smiles at me and says, "Yes, but it's going to cost a bit." I ask her, "What do you mean?"

She smiles sadly and says, "I have a small portion of Grun's Aura within me. He didn't realize that the night I died, he unconsciously absorbed a small part of me. When he poured his Aura into you, I held onto a small piece of it. You remember what Grun said to his teammates before you all left?" I nod and say, "That the fight might drain their Aura within six hours." Arianna smiles and nods. "Yes, and that was five and a half hours ago."

"But if we pool our Auras together, combining it with the small amount of Grun's, we might be able to pour enough Aura back into him to kick start his heart." I stare at her, not believing her. I say, "But won't that kill you all?" I see Arianna and Grun's team all smile at me, while Leere says, "Yang, you never knew us when we were alive. We aren't even really alive now. We're just echoes of our own souls. We want to make sure that Grun has the chance to live the life he deserves. We are more than happy to give up what's left of us so that he can live."

I weep and nod my head, not wanting to deny them. They all move around Grun and hold hands on top of each other over Grun's chest. I see the Aura flowing from them, each color pouring into a small green sphere directly over Grun's heart. They quickly disappear, leaving the orb to float above Grun. Nothing happens at first, so I reach over and gently place a finger on the orb. "I can feel it!" I realize. "Maybe I have to…." I slowly push the orb down, forcing it down into Grun's chest.

After a moment, I feel Aura flowing through Grun, filling his veins and starting his heart again. I see his chest rise and fall a few times before his eyes slowly flutter open. He looks at me, confused and asks, "Yang?"

**Grun's POV**

I can feel fire flowing through my body, not understanding what was going on. "I thought death was supposed to be the end." I think to myself. As light fills my eyes, I see my team, Blitz, Macht, and Leere. And… "Arianna? Is that you?" They all smile at me, while Arianna says, "Yes Grun, it's me. I'm sorry our last words had to be like this. We have given you our Aura so that you can live. You need to go back and live, live with our children, build a life with Yang. You deserve to be happy."

I start to weep. "I don't understand. What do you mean?" Arianna smiles again and says "Don't worry, you'll understand soon. Take care of them, Grun. I love you." I feel myself rushing somewhere, a direction I could feel but not explain.

I slowly open my eyes, looking around me. I see a weeping goddess staring at me. "Yang?" I quietly say. I was cut off by Yang jumping onto me and crying, "Grun! Thank Dust, you're alive!" She buries her face into my neck, crying loudly. I slowly wrap my arms around her, holding her gently. I cough my throat dry for some reason. "Yang?" I rasp, "What the Dust happened?"

She composes herself some and tells me what happened after I saved her. When she finishes her story, I sit the dumbfounded. "My team sacrificed themselves for me?" I no sooner finish this thought before Yang rears back and punches me across the jaw. I fall over to my side, but she grabs my shirt and pulls me up, her eyes blazing scarlet at me.

"What were you doing?" She screams at me, "How dare you try to let yourself die for me? Were you determined to leave me alone?" She is shaking violently. I see the tears fill her eyes, realizing she's feeling equal parts anger, fear and relief. I smile sweetly at her and place my hand on hers.

"The only thing I was thinking about was saving the woman I love. If I had to die to do that, so be it. At least you would've been safe." I smile again, knowing that she can hardly ever resist my smile. I see her fight the smile creeping across her face. She finally laughs and says, "Damn it Grun, stop making me laugh. I'm trying to be mad at you." I lean forward and gently kiss her.

She resists at first, but finally pulls me against her, returning the kiss with passion. She finally breaks free for a breath. I smile at her again and say, "I'm back Yang. I'm back and I'm safe. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm not going anywhere."

She looks up into my eyes, seeing the sincerity in them. She then pulls me against her and starts weeping uncontrollably into my chest. I gently slide to the floor with her, holding her and comforting her. "Shh, shh," I coo. "It's ok, my love. I'll never leave your side again. I promise." She clutches at me and slowly calms down, looking at me again. I smile at her and kiss her gently.

I finally remember where we are and I look up and around us. Every single member of the White Fang is dead. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY completely annihilated them all, not letting a single one escape, hoping that it will end everything. All of them are panting heavily and coated in blood. Some of them are wounded, but none of them seriously. I look over to see Bull leaning against a wall, completely untouched and smoking a cigarette. He sees me looking and nods to me. I nod back and then hold two of my fingers up to my lips. He nods and tosses me his pack of smokes, the lighter inside them.

I catch the pack and pull one out, lighting it quickly before tossing it back to Bull. I take a long slow drag from it and hold it for a four count, savoring the flavor. As I let it out, I sigh heavily, "Finally, it's over. It's all over." I take another drag, but no sooner than I finished inhaling, Yang grabs it and takes a long drag herself. She lets it out slowly, sighing just as heavily.

"Thank Dust," she says. "Now let's get out of here and get ourselves cleaned up. We need to go see our kids." She smiles at me and helps me to my feet. We keep our hands in each other as we gather our friends and leave this place. I pull her close and smile. "I can finally live with the woman I love." I look at everybody and smile, "Thank you so much guys. I can never repay you for all of your help." I look to Bull and say, "I'm sorry, sir. I caused you to lose your boys not once, but twice. I can never make that right."

Bull puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently, saying, "Grun, not once have I ever blamed you for what happened to my boys. You were like a son to me, and I'm glad that you let me see them one last time. Thank you, Grun." I can only nod to him, not trusting my voice to say anything.

Yang and I head to our room above the Tavern. Everybody else goes back to beacon, wanting to clean themselves up before meeting back up. We go in the back entrance, not wanting to face the kids and their grandparents looking how we did. We slipped upstairs and both took quick showers. After we are both clean and presentable, we go downstairs, going to see everybody. As soon as we go down into the bar area, Yang and I are both tackled by Emma and Erin. Emma is wrapped around my neck, while Erin has his arms around Yang's waist.

Both of us return the hugs fiercely, never wanting to let them go again. After a few moments, Jack and Jeanne come over and pull all of us into a big group hug. After everyone has calmed down, we sit down at a table, while Jack and Jeanne apologize profusely.

"Grun, please forgive us." They cry. "We were jumped after getting the kids home. We never saw it coming." I hold both of them and say, "You have nothing to apologize for. There was no way that you could've held them off." They continue to sob, still apologizing. I hold them closely and say, "You protected my children better than I ever did. I am very thankful for that."

They both smile at us and hug us tightly. "So," Jack says, "What are you going to do now? You don't need to stay here anymore. You can come home and be with your kids again." I look at them and the kids, seeing the hope in their eyes. I close my eyes and say, "For now, I want you to take the kids back to your place. I still have things I need to take care of here. I'll call you when I've made my decision. Is that ok?"

I can see them hesitating, but they nod and say, "Very well. We'll make sure they get home safely. Come along kids." Emma and Erin look crestfallen, but after Yang and I hug them tightly and promise to come see them soon, they finally agree to go with Jack and Jeanne. After they left, Yang and I sit together and hold each other's hands. Yang is the first one to break the silence by saying, "So, what ARE you going to do?"

I can feel her shaking, thinking about me leaving. I pull her against me and say, "I think that I'm going to stay here. Maybe not at the Tavern, but I have some funds stashed away from the White Fang, plus the work I took on after I left. I should be able to find a house here. Move the kids in with me; let them go to school around here. I don't know what I'll do for work, though."

Yang leans against me and says, "Maybe you could get Ms. Goodwich to convince Ozpin to let you teach at Beacon? You would be great at teaching people about understanding the Faunus." I consider this for a moment and shrug, saying, "It wouldn't hurt to ask. Though, wouldn't it be scandalous, a teacher and a student living together?" Yang tilts her head at me, not understanding what I meant.

I smile at her and say, "What? Did you think that I was staying in the city for the scenery? I'm staying here so that you can live with me and the kids and still go to Beacon without much trouble." I smile a little wider and ask, "Or do you not want to live with me anymore?"

I sit there, letting Yang absorb that for a moment. I can see the moment that it clicks for her, as her eyes widen and she covers her mouth with her hand. I can see tears in her eyes as she says, "Oh Grun, do you mean it?" I nod to her and say, "Yes, my love. If you are willing, I would like for you to move in with me and the kids." Yang starts to cry, holding me tightly and kissing me.

I hold her back, so glad to be here with her. I look up as Bull walks into the bar, having gotten himself cleaned up. He nods to me and walks over to us. I nod back and say, "Boss, Yang and I aren't going to be working here anymore. I'm sorry for the short notice." Bull smiles at me and says, "That's perfectly ok, Grun. I was thinking it was time to retire anyway. Close this place down, see more of Remnant. So this works out great. I'm happy for you, my boy."

I smile and hold out my hand to shake it. Bull grabs my hand, but he pulls me in for a fierce hug. I return it just as strongly, tearing up as I let him go. Bull looks at Yang and say, "You take care of him, little lady." Yang nods and moves to hug Bull as well.

Bull hands me the keys to the bar, leaving me in charge of getting our stuff moved out when we are ready. Yang and I stand in front of the Tavern, holding hands. "So now what should we do?" I ask Yang. She smiles to me and says, "It's not too late to go talk to Ms. Goodwich." I look at her and nod, drawing her to me and kissing her deeply, before we set off towards Beacon.

_**Five months later**_

"And so, children," I say to my students. "Who can tell me the name of the first Faunus politician?" I look out over my class of first years, smiling as I see some of them racking their brains. I see a small hand in the back row raise up. I look to her and say, "Yes Penny?" A young girl with orange hair and bright green eyes stands up, holding the front of her skirt, obviously nervous.

"Professor, I believe that it was Markus Lobos, the first man to fight for Faunus rights in the work place." I smile at her and nod, "Very good, Penny. That is absolutely right. You may take your seat." Penny blushes and sits back down, smiling again. I am about to start another lecture when I see another hand shooting in the air. It belongs to a young male Faunus, who is looking at me energetically. I quirk an eyebrow at him and say, "Yes? You have a question?"

He stands up and grins, his deer antlers adorned with various baubles. "Yes sir, I was wondering if you could tell us about the White Fang, and their first leader?" I sigh and say, "While I normally wouldn't want to fill your heads with tales of darkness, I know that you should be prepared for whatever life can throw at you." I adjust my glasses and sweep back my hair, letting my ears flicker up above my hair.

"The first leader of the White Fang was a man by the name of Abscheulichkeit. His full name was never discovered, but he built quite a reputation as somebody who would go far out of his way to help people who deserved it. He would set up rallies, pickets and boycotts around businesses that discriminated against Faunus. He was kind, friendly and trusting." A bitter smile pulls at my lips. "Perhaps too trusting. It wasn't until long after he left the White Fang that we discovered that he had fallen in love and married a human woman." This caused several of the students to start chattering and smiling. "He thought he had achieved what the White Fang always dreamed of; equality with humans. But he was betrayed by his closest ally, the man who would take his place; Adam. He had Abscheulichkeit and his wife killed, then took over, turning the White Fang into the radicalized presence they later became."

"What happened to Adam?" The young Faunus asked. I shrugged and said, "The same thing that happens to anyone who kills to gain power; he in turn was killed for his position. But this trend quickly devolved into petty disputes between higher-ups and the White Fang eventually fell apart. Now there are only a handful of active cells around Remnant, but after the fiasco with Adam, they could never band together like they did before. So now they are barely a blip on radar."

Before he could ask another question, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. I clapped my hands and said, "Alright children, read through the latest chapter of "Basic Faunus Anatomy" as well as "Teamwork is more than working as a team." There will be a test Monday on these chapters!" This is met with several loud groans, but everyone leaves smiling. I smile as the last student files out, before moving to my desk and sitting down with a sigh.

"To think," I say to myself, "I am making more of a difference as a teacher than I ever did as a leader or a fighter." I chuckle to myself and grab my cigarettes from my desk drawer. I move to the window and open it, lighting the smoke and breathing deeply. I look out over the school as I let the smoke out, wondering how I ever got here.

"Professor," I hear a teasing voice behind me. "I don't think you are supposed to smoke in the classroom." I turn to the voice, smiling widely as I flick the cigarette behind me out the window. "Smoke?" I say, "What smoke? I don't see any smoke."

Yang looks at me smiling and shakes her head. "I thought teachers were supposed to set good examples for their students." She walks over to me and throws her arms around my neck, coming in for a kiss. I place a finger over her mouth, holding her still. "And teachers are not supposed to make out with their students in class." She pouts at me and says, "Even if they're married?" I smile back at her and say, "Especially if they're married."

She keeps pouting at me, staring at me with her big purple eyes. "Gods," I think to myself. "I don't think I will ever be able to resist those eyes." I sigh and finally lean down to give her a quick kiss. She tries to hold me to her, wanting to prolong the kiss, but I pull away, saying "Not in class, my dear. Later." She pouts again but says, "Fine, but you're making up for the time you are denying my lips when we get home." I smile at her hungrily and growl, "Gladly."

I hear a loud rap at the door, followed by, "Professor Xiao Long! What have I told you about fooling around with Yang while school is in session?!" Glenda comes into the room, pointing her crop at me. I throw my hands up in front of me and say, "Now wait a minute, it's free period right now. What's wrong with having a moment with my wife?" Glenda glares at me and says, "You are a Teacher! You are supposed to teach these children how to behave once they enter society!" I retort with, "And doesn't that involve enjoying some alone time with your spouse?" I'm smiling as I say this, knowing full well that Glynda is furious.

Her eyes go dark as she says, "That is not what I mean, and you know it. If I catch you two kissing in class again, I will glue you to the wall! Am I clear?" I smile and nod at her, knowing full well she won't follow through on the threat. She stalks out of the classroom, fuming.

"So," I say to Yang, "You ready to get some lunch?" Yang nods and takes my hand, leading me to the cafeteria. When we get there, teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY are all sitting together, the leaders all in a heated debate.

"I'm telling you," Coco says, "Newer sports cars are the only way to go!" Jaune is shaking his head, responding with, "How can you deny the thrill of sliding into the driver seat of a classic muscle car? Just imagine the roar as you coax the horses to life." Ruby interjects with, "No way, foreign hybrids! The systems and technology they use to create them and keep them running…" She trails off, stars in her eyes.

Weiss is sitting next to Ruby, holding her hand and smiling, shaking her head affectionately. She looks up and sees Yang and I. "Hey Professor! How was class?" Everybody stops talking and looks over to me, smiling brightly. I return the smiles, saying "It went really well. Penny seems to be taking well to the classes, Ruby. I'm glad you suggested her for my class. She has been delightful." Ruby smiles, obviously happy that her friend is doing so well.

My smile falters for a moment, thinking about that Faunus boy. Yang notices this immediately and ask, "Darling, what's the matter?" I rub the back of my head and say, "That young Faunus, Ruddy, asked me about the White Fang and the first leader today." This quiets the group, not sure what to say. Velvet leans forward and says, "What did you did you tell him?" I respond with, "With what Ozpin said the official story was." I sigh heavily and sit down at the table, rubbing my face. Yang sits by me, putting an arm around me. "I know it shouldn't bother me so much, but I hate knowing that the thing I worked so hard for has become such a dark stain in history. The group that began with hopes of bringing human and Faunus together are probably responsible for the largest rift between us in a long time." I stare out the window, not really focusing on anything.

"Some days," I say quietly say, "I wonder if it would have been better if Adam and I did just die in that alleyway all those years ago. It might've saved so many people so much pain." Yang is not happy at all with me talking like this. She reaches up and grabs one of my wolf ears, pinching it and pulling it hard, dragging me down to her. "What have I told you about thinking like that?" Her eyes have turned scarlet as she stares at me.

"Ok, ok baby," I say, tears forming from her pulling my ear, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please, that hurts." She lets go and sighs, shaking her head at me. She looks at Coco and Velvet and asks, "Are you two busy tonight?" They both shake their heads no and say, "No, we don't have any plans. Why?" She smiles and says "Why don't you two stop by the house later? We need to have a chat with Grun."

This makes the two smile and nod. I shake my head and sigh, thinking to myself, "How did I get talked into this?" Yang smiles and snuggles up against me, causing the teams to giggle and cheer, teasing Yang and I. Before I can respond appropriately, I hear a loud, "Daddy! Momma!" I turn around and see Emma and Erin sprinting down the cafeteria towards Yang and I. We both throw our arms wide and happily catch them holding them tightly.

"Kids! What are you doing here so early?" I see Jack and Jeanne walking towards us. "Hey guys, what's going on? I thought you weren't going to be here until after classes." They smile at us and Jeanne says, "Oh the kids couldn't wait anymore to come see you two, so we went ahead and brought them." I laugh and ruffle my kids' hair, saying "You kids have your grandparents wrapped around your fingers." They both smile and say, "Yup." This causes everyone to start laughing.

I turn back to the table and start loading up plates for me and the family. "Do you two want to stay for lunch?" I ask my parents. They smile and shake their heads, Jack answering with, "No, I'm afraid we have to go talk to Ozpin about getting the twins enrolled next year." I smile and say, "I don't know whether or not to hope that I get them in my class." This makes them laugh again before hugging Emma and Erin again. "Now you two behave for Momma and Daddy. We'll come see you tomorrow, ok?" The kids nod and say, "We love you guys." Jack and Jeanne head off towards the headmaster's office.

"Hey Uncle Jaune, can I ask you a question?" Emma looks at him, a smile on her face. Jaune smiles back at her and says, "Of course, Emma dear, what do you want to know?" "Well I was walking past Momma and Daddy's room last night to use the bathroom, and I heard noises in there." I swallow heavily and start coughing violently; choking on the food I just bit into. "Oh Dust," I think as I reach for my drink, "Please Gods don't tell me she's going to ask…" Too late.

"Why was Momma laying on top of Daddy on their bed? Were they wrestling?" I start blushing fiercely, as well as everybody else at the table. Emma and Erin are looking at everybody, not understanding why nobody would look at them. "What's wrong, everybody? Did we say something?" I finally dislodge the food in my throat and draw in a long breath. "GAAASSSSP! Kids! We will talk about this when we get home tonight! Not out in public!" They are both confused at this, but they shrug and say, "Ok." I look at Ruby, Weiss and Nora and ask, "Would you girls mind taking them somewhere to play?" They nod, glad to distract the kids from the questions.

As they walk away, I hear Jaune and Pyrrha laughing quietly. Blake and Ren join in as well. Shortly after, the entire group is practically rolling on the floor, laughing at us. I am sitting with my head in my hands, my face a bright scarlet. "Gods," I mutter to myself. "I thought we locked the door." Yang takes my hand and says, "It's ok, dear. We'll get through this, together."

I look at her and ask, "Can you give them 'The Talk'? I don't think my heart can handle it." She smiles sweetly and says, "We agreed that was Daddy's job." I sigh and put my head on the table, not looking forward to the talk. I hear Jaune finally stop laughing and say, "So, brother, you like letting Yang take the lead, huh?" I glare up at him and say, "As a matter of fact, yes I do. But let's take a moment to discuss the things that YOU like, little brother."

I can see fear enter his eyes as he says, "N-n-now hold on, Grun. Let's not be hasty here." I smile at him and say, "But brother, I thought that you wanted to talk about preferences, since you were so happy to comment on mine." I sit up straight and look to Pyrrha, saying, "Tell me Pyrrha, did you know that he has a thing French maid uniforms? Or nurse uniforms?" I see a blush crossing Pyrrha's face, but I keep going. "I also happen to know for a fact that he has always wanted to try some mild S&M. You should see the magazines I've found in his room over the years."

Jaune and Pyrrha are both blushing furiously, while the group is laughing again. I keep going, "Hey, I'm not judging here, Jaune. Go for whatever makes you happy, little brother. If you can't enjoy yourself, you'll never truly live." I feel Yang reach up and pull on my ear again, saying, "Ok Grun, You've made your point." I smile and say, "Yes dear." I lean over and gently kiss her, which she returns eagerly.

I look at my group of friend, still not believing that I could be so lucky to be where I am now. I still have my dark moments, when pain and regret takes hold of me, but I am always grateful to be where I am. I take hold of Yang's hand and squeeze it. She's smiles at me and squeezes my hand in return. God's I love everybody here. I turn back to Jaune and say, "You know I don't think I ever got around to telling everyone how you came to suffer so badly from motion sickness."

**Hello my darlings! Nightengale here once again! I'm so glad you all took the time to read my FanFic. I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm going to end this story here and start another one or if I might continue it for a little longer. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy anything else I might write. I love you all so much! I'll see you again at a later time! Auf wiedersehen!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello my lovelies, Nightengale here once again. I'm so glad you guys have enjoyed my story so far. I have loved writing it and I hope to keep going for a while. I'm sorry that there was such a gap between the last chapter and this one, but I've been busy with work and family. I love both my job and my family so much, I really do. And I really enjoy writing for all of you. But I have noticed that I need to be a little more thorough in my checking of my works. It wasn't until after publishing them that I found so many spelling, grammar and plot mistakes I didn't notice the first time. And I do apologize for that. I hope that I can give you guys and girls the kind of story you want to and deserve to read. The chapters following Eleven are going to be a little more intermittent as I have taken the story as far as I originally intended. But after I was done with it, I discovered that I wanted to try to take it farther. So, without further ado, I now begin with chapter Twelve. I love you all so much. **

_**A couple weeks after Emma and Erin's awkward question, we find Grun on his way to his classroom. The new semester just began, so he has a new group of students to teach. **_

As I'm walking towards my classroom, I'm going over my papers to make sure I have everything I need to teach my advanced class today. "Hmm," I say to myself, "'Major Faunus Players in History', 'Why you are the same as me', and 'Grimm don't care what someone looks like, so why should you?' I think that's all the lectures I've got planned for this class." I walk into my classroom, not looking up yet as I said, "Hello students, my name is Professor Grun and welcome to Advanced Faunus Understanding."

I look up at my class and smile at them. As I look around I see quite a few faces that I recognize. Penny and Ruddy are sitting in the front row, center of the table and smiling to me. To their left I see all team RWBY, Yang grinning and blowing a kiss to me. I wink at her as I keep looking around. JNPR is sitting behind RWBY, all of them waving to me, Jaune and Nora very energetically, Ren and Pyrrha a little more reserved. To their right I see CFVY and smile to them. The team smiles in return and settles in. When I look around farther I see some faces I don't recognize.

The last group I see is a group of four boys, all of them staring at me with looks of equal fear and disbelief on their faces. I smile warmly at them and say, "Why hello there, team CRDL. I'm glad you decided to change your ways and learn to get a better appreciation for your Faunus comrades. Now I hope that our past….disagreement won't affect your ability to listen and learn in my class, right?"

Though there is no heat or venom in my voice, the four boys flinch at the last word. All four of them look uncomfortable but nod to me. I smile wider and say, "Alright class, let's begin our lessons."

_**Near the end of class.**_

__I'm wrapping up my last lecture, looking out over my class. Ruddy and Penny are both watching me intently, every now and then taking notes. RWBY and CFVY, with the exception of Yang were watching me as well, though I could tell they were getting bored. Yang was leaning forward with her head in her hands, snoring lightly. I smiled at this and thought, "I should be hurt that she couldn't stay awake, but she's just so damn cute when she's asleep. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't mess with her a little." My smile turns to an evil grin and I walk over to her, motioning for her teammates to be quiet.

They all smile and perk up, knowing they are about to see something fun. I walk up in front of Yang and quietly pick up textbook. I then throw it up into the air, it hovered for a microsecond at the top of the arc, then descended quickly hurtling towards my wife. I step back a half step and hold my folder in front of me, waiting for it to happen. The book falls just before Yang, slamming down on the desk loudly in between her elbows.

She jumps awake, squeaking and looking around shocked. She realizes where she is and turns to focus on me, an easy smile painting my face. She returns it with a very nervous smile of her own, knowing that I usually only use this smile when I am quite irked. I look in her eyes and say, "Well, Ms. Xiao Long, since you have been paying attention so well in my class, would you mind answering a few questions for me?"

Yang is starting to panic, thinking that there was no way she could answer my questions. I smile wider and ask, "Can you tell me what we learned from Santos Mono when he stopped an assassination attempt on one of the Schnee company executives for not giving into the demands of the white fang?"

I watch as Yang tries racking her brain, desperately trying to grab the information. I stand and smile gently, letting her take her time to think. Slowly she starts to say, "That…not all Faunus blame the Schnee Company for mistreating them?" I quirk an eyebrow at her, impressed that she could remember that part of the lesson. I nod and say, "Very good Yang. I see that you at least paid attention to SOME of my lesson." Yang smiles at me, relieved. But I smile again and say, "However that was only a partial answer. There was more to be learned than just that. What else was learned?" Yang is in full on panic mode, knowing she was lucky to pull that answer out of thin air.

I smile when I see defeat in her eyes and say, "The other thing we learned is that Faunus are willing to put differences aside with humans when they know that somebody needs help." I turn to the rest of the class and say, "You see class, Santos wasn't a warrior. He was a laborer, a man who just got off of a long shift to pay for his two kids to go to school. He was on his way home to rest when he saw a group of Faunus stalking a man into an alley. He thought something was wrong and followed them."

My face turned sad as I said, "He walked into the alley to find the group had circled the man and were preparing to beat him to death. He yelled at them to leave him alone and rushed them. The group wasn't sure what to do seeing as he was a fellow Faunus. One swung a bat at him, connecting with his left arm and breaking it. Santos then started to fight off the group with his good arm. After chasing them off, He called the authorities and stayed with the man until they arrived, making sure he was ok. It wasn't until a few days later that he found out who the man had been. The man came to visit him at his home while his arm recovered and introduced himself as Markus Maximus, CEO of the Schnee Dust Distribution Center in Vacuo."

I smiled and look directly at CRDL as I said, "Which brings us to the third lesson; Even humans who mistreat Faunus may see the error of their ways, given the right motivation. Markus saw that Santos was hurt while protecting him and couldn't work. So he offered Santos a job with his company, as his personal assistant. He gave Santos a salary equivalent to four times what he currently made as a laborer and paid for his children's schooling. He wanted to show Santos how grateful he was to the Faunus for saving his life. Santos happily accepted and to this day he is still at Markus's side as both his assistant and his close friend."

I smile at my whole class and say, "This is the most important thing I can teach you children; Never expect your life to follow the path you set out for yourself. A man who is a stranger on the street could wind up being your brother in arms. The people you surround yourself with could become your bitterest enemies. And the people you hate could become the people you love dearest. Always prepare yourself as best as you can, but never be rigid in your life. Change is a part of life, and you must be flexible enough to change with it, lest it break you like a twig."

The bell rings as I finish up and smile, telling everybody "Alright, that's class everybody. Remember to review the materials I give you, as there will be a test at the end of the week. Yang, as well as Cardin, would you two mind staying behind after class?" Yang and Cardin both look nervous and nod. Their teams look at them nervously but walk out, leaving the two with me.

I smile at them both and say, "Don't worry you two; you didn't do anything to get into trouble. I just wanted to have a word with you two. Cardin, I'm rather impressed by you being in my class, given your past…proclivities. What prompted this?"

Cardin looked embarrassed and looked away but he said, "After our first encounter, I was angry at you for treating me like that. But what you said made me start to think, 'Why did I treat Faunus the way I did?' I thought about this for quite a while and realized that it was because I didn't even try to understand them. This realization made me feel ashamed of myself, knowing that I was being so close minded. So I wanted to understand the Faunus better, so that I would learn to get along with them better." I see the slight blush creeping along his cheeks and smile, saying "There is a girl involved too, isn't there?" This caused Cardin to blush harder, but he fiercely shook his head. I turn to Yang and say, "Dear, would you mind going into my office and shutting the door. Also, listen to some music, rather loudly. I want to have a private conversation with mister Winchester here."

Yang looks worried but nods and walks to the office, stopping to kiss me as she passed. After I see the door shut and hear her favorite song start up, "I Burn" she turns the volume up a little, just to be sure. I turn back to Cardin and say, "Ok, she's gone, you can be honest with me. I swear on my honor as a teacher that anything you tell me will not leave this room. Now, did this start because of a girl?"

Cardin shakes his head again, but I can hear him quietly mutter something. I learn forward and say, "I'm sorry?" Cardin looks at me and says, "It's a guy." I raise an eyebrow and think to myself, "Well, that was a little unexpected. But I helped two of my lady friends get together with each other, plus my wife's sister is dating Weiss, so who am I to judge if this boy's door swings the other way?"

I smile at him and say, "I'm happy for you, Cardin. It's good to be honest with your feelings. What happened, if I may ask?" Cardin looks like he was about to say it wasn't my business, but he sighed and said, "Not long after you taught me a lesson, I was walking through a part of Vale I usually don't frequent. I was jumped by a couple guys who wanted to rob me. When I fought back they took me down and tied me up. While they were trying to decide what to do with me, a Monkey Faunus guy came in from a rooftop and took them both down. He then walked over to me, an easy smile on his face as he cut me loose."

I thought about this for a moment, the general description sounding familiar for some reason. I heard Cardin keep going, "He had dark tanned skin and bright blond hair. His tail was the same color as his hair and he had his shirt partially unbuttoned, showing off his abs." Cardin blushed at saying this.

It finally clicked for me as I said, "Sun? Was his name Sun?" Cardin was taken aback by me knowing the guy, but he nodded. I smiled and said, "I know that boy. He's always hanging around with my friend Blake, though he never expressed any interest in her. He actually told me once that he liked guys better than girls, but he was ok with both. Anyway, I think that you just might have a shot with him, if you just tell him how you feel." Cardin looks unsure, but I say, "Look son, trust me when I say this; never be afraid of getting hurt when it comes to matters of the heart. I'm speaking from personal experience here, you understand. You never know when you can miss the chance to be with who you care about."

Cardin raises an eyebrow, not sure what I meant. I smile and say, "You know that Yang and I are married, correct?" He smiles and says, "I don't think there is anyone at Beacon who doesn't know you two are married after that banner she put up in the cafeteria." I smile as I think back at the large banner professing her love for her new husband she hung from one end of the hall to the other.

"Yes," I quietly chuckle "Well Yang does have a penchant for exuberance. But that's one of the many things I love so much about her." My smile turns sad as I go on, "What very few people know is that before Yang and I married, I was a widower." Cardin looked at me in shock, not believing it was true. I nod and say, "Yes, my first wife was killed. Because of my inaction, but that is beside the point. My point is that you should never be scared to take a chance, because you never know when that chance can escape you."

Cardin frowned but nodded to me, understanding what I was saying. He looks at me, embarrassed and asks, "If you and him are friends, can you get him to meet me somewhere so I can talk to him?" I smile and say, "Gladly" as I pull out my scroll and dialing Sun's number. He picked up with a loud and cheerful, "Grun! Good to hear from you! What's up, man?"

I reply with, "Not much, monkey boy. Hey listen, I got a fellow here who wants to meet up with you. He seems like a decent sort, so I think you should talk to him." Sun asks cheerfully, "Is he cute?" I responded by laughing and saying, "You know I don't swing that way, Sun. But judging by your past boy toys, he seems like your type." This causes Cardin to blush profusely but he smiles a little.

Sun laughs out loud and says, "Great! Send him over to the bar. I'm on shift right now but it's slow right now." I tell him I will and hang up. I smile at Cardin and say, "There you go, friend. He wants you to go to the bar he works at right now to talk. It's actually not far from where you two first me, which is why he was there at the time anyway." Cardin smiles and says, "Thank you Professor." He reaches out a hand and I grasp it and give it a firm shake. I say to him, "Please, just Grun is fine. And you are more than welcome." As Cardin starts to leave I say, "Don't stay out too late. I expect you in class tomorrow with an answer to this question; How is Sun your Santos?" Cardin frowns slightly but nods and leaves.

I walk over to my office and walk inside, seeing Yang quietly singing along to the song playing on my radio. I smile as I walk inside and close the door, causing Yang to look at me and smile. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me gently, which I returned before I remembered why she was in here. I broke the kiss and walked over to my desk, turning off my radio and grabbing my cigarettes before asking her to follow me out the back door. When we were outside I pulled out a cigarette and light it, gently drawing in a breath. I offer one to Yang, which she takes and tights off of my cigarette.

While she is enjoying the taste of the smoke, I ask her, "Were my lectures that boring?" Though I ask her sincerely, she flinches as if I yelled at her. She shakes her head and says, "No Grun, I swear I didn't want to fall asleep. You are by far the most interesting and entertaining teacher here at Beacon. But I've never been able to focus in class, even the ones I really enjoy."

Both of us take another drag off of our smokes before I ask her, "Do you actually want to take my class? Or are you only in there because your team and I are in there?" Yang shakes her head and says, "I want to be in the class. I want to learn from you. I swear I do." I pull Yang close to me and kiss the top of her head and say, "I know you do my dear. I can hear the sincerity in your voice. It just hurt my feelings a little knowing that I put my wife to sleep."

Yang looks at me looking upset. She says, "I'm sorry Grun. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I'm just horrible at sitting still for so long. You know how I am Grun; I can never sit still for long." I smile at her and say, "I know, my love. That's why I didn't take it personally. I just wanted to talk to you about it. Is this going to be a recurring thing?" Yang shakes her head and says, "No Grun, I'll do my best to stay awake. I promise." She leans against me and kisses me. I return the kiss and hold her.

After a few moments of enjoying each other's presence, Yang asks me, "So what did you and Cardin talk about?" I smile and kiss her nose, saying "Sorry my love, I promised that it would stay between us two. And I'm not going to break his trust. If he ever wants anybody else to know, he'll tell them himself." Yang frowns a little but shrugs, knowing that I never go back on my word.

A few minutes later my scroll went off, signaling that I had gotten a message from Sun. I raise an eyebrow and open it, turning so that Yang can't see. There are two pictures as well as a text message. The message said, "Hey Grun, your buddy here asked me out and I said yes. Thanks for sending such a cute guy my way." The first picture was of Sun and Cardin standing next to each other with an arm around the other's waist. Sun is smiling shamelessly, while Cardin's smile is small and nervous.

The second picture causes me to laugh loudly, as it is one of Sun holding Cardin by the chin as he is kissing him fiercely. Cardin is blushing red as a tomato but I can tell he is enjoying himself. I type back, "Congrats you two. You two should be good for each other. Have fun, but remember; he still has class in the morning, so don't keep him out too late." After a moment Sun replies with a simple, "No promises! ;-)" I chuckle as I put the scroll back in my pocket. Yang is looking at me, obvious curiosity on her face. I say, "Wait just a moment" as I take my scroll out of my pocket.

I message Sun again and say, "Hey Sun, ask Cardin if he's keeping you two a secret or if he's going to come out and tell people?" After a few minutes, Sun replies with, "He says he's proud to be with me and he isn't going to hide it. : -)" I smile at this and say, "Good. Is he cool with me telling one person as long as they keep it to themselves until you tell people?" Another couple minutes before Sun wrote back, "He says that it's thanks to you that we were able to be together so you can tell whoever you like. He also said thanks." I wrote back, "I only introduced you two, he's the one who took the opportunity and asked you out. He should be proud of himself. And he's welcome. Well I quit interrupting your make out session and leave you all alone. Later Sun." Sun responded with, "Thanks Grun. Later."

I smile and say, "Ok Yang, I'm going to tell you something but you have to promise me you won't tell anybody." Yang nods and waits for me to talk. I say, "Cardin and Sun started dating." Yang's eyes go wide and says, "WHAT?!" I laugh and say, "Yeah Sun saved Cardin a while back and Cardin fell for him. I set the two up and they liked each other. Sun is the reason the Cardin is becoming a better person and a better Huntsman."

Yang can't believe what I'm telling her. "How could somebody like Cardin start dating Sun? I didn't even know that Cardin or Sun were gay!" I shrugged and said, "Cardin was probably scared to admit that he was gay because he didn't want to be hurt. And Sun's Bi, he told me so himself." Yang gapes at me, still not believing it. I smile and say, "Is it really that shocking? Your little sister is dating one of your teammates, and you and I helped get two of your lady friends together." I smiled wider as I said, "Whom you, not long after, talked into a four way with us and then convinced them into an occasional shared relationship with us."

This caused Yang to blush a little, realizing how she sounded after thinking about it. "You're right, I shouldn't act like that." She slumps a little, "I should be happy that he is actually improving himself and found somebody who makes him happy. Good for him." I wrap an arm around and pull her close to me. "It's ok babe, you were just shocked."

I heard my scroll go off once more. "Good lord," I think, "I thought they were having fun together, what does Sun want now?" I pull out my scroll and open the message app. "Hmm, another picture." I open up the file and look at the picture, confused. It shows Sun kneeling down, the camera out at arm's length to take in him and somebody in front of him. After a second look I see that the other person's fly was open and Sun was sucking on his….

"GAAAAH!" I scream after it hits me. "Oh you son of a bitch." I mutter to myself as I dial Sun's number. After a few moments Sun picks up with a relaxed, "Mmm hello?" I scream into the scroll, "WHAT THE FUCK SUN?! WHY IN THE NINE LEVELS OF HELL WOULD YOU EVER SEND ME A PICTURE LIKE THAT?! THAT IS THE LAST TIME I DO YOU A FAVOR, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

I hear Sun chuckle into the scroll, but it sounds like he's laughing with his mouth full. I blanch as I realize why. "Oh gods damn it; you're still going at it." I hear a vague "mmhmm" before another voice gasps, "Sun quit talking on the phone, I'm trying to concentrate on this." I look at my scroll in disgust and say, "I am never coming to that bar again. If I'd known you did that in the back I never would've eaten there to begin with." I hang up without saying good bye, fuming.

Yang is looking at me, concerned as she didn't see what I had. I shake my head and say, "Trust me, you don't want to know." Yang keeps looking at me, wanting to know. "It'll give you nightmares" She doesn't let up and I sigh, "Fine, but I warned you." I pull out my scroll, opening the last message and holding it out for Yang to look at. She looks at the picture and blushes, screaming out "GAAAH!" She turns away from it as I delete the picture and put my scroll away.

"I'm going to have to wash my eyes after that," She says to me. I nod in agreement and say, "I tried to warn you." I pull out another couple of cigarettes and light them both, handing one to Yang. She accepts and takes a puff as I do. I check the time on my scroll and see that my next class wasn't for another twenty minutes. "We still got twenty minutes until my next class. What do you have next period?"

She looks at me and blows a smoke ring at me, smiling sweetly and saying, "Free period." I smile at her and throw my cigarette away, taking her hand and leading her back into my office, locking both doors. Twenty minutes later I walk towards my classroom, adjusting my clothes and glasses, leaving a disheveled, sweaty and satisfied Yang on my desk, knowing that she'll have all period to recover and compose herself. I smile as I walk outside my office and begin my class on new first years.

_**Class has ended and we find Grun heading to the cafeteria for dinner.**_

"GUUUUUURRRGGGGLLEEEEEE" I groan as my stomach lets out a loud gurgle. "Ugh, I need to get some food." As I'm heading down a hallway, I'm stopped by Velvet and Coco. I look at them and smile. "Hello ladies, how can I help you two today?"

"Grun," Coco said, "Do you know what's going on with Cardin? He just came up to Velvet a couple minutes and started crying and apologizing for how he and his team treated her. He said that he wanted to make up for it and start over again as friends." Velvet is standing next to her and nodding profusely. I smile at the both of them and say, "Well I can tell you that he is being completely sincere. He had a change of heart and realized what an idiot he was being."

Coco raises an eyebrow and asks, "How can you be so sure?" I smile again and pull out my scroll, showing them both the two pictures Sun had sent me. They both look, jaws hanging open. Velvet is the first to speak up, asking "Is that Cardin and Sun? Together?" I laugh and say, "Yes. Cardin got jumped by some thugs a while back and Sun saved him. He fell for Sun and wound up asking me to introduce him to Sun. They started dating today, as a matter of fact."

Coco says, "Wow, never would have guessed that would happen." I smile and say "Hey, if it makes him a better person and he's happy, good for him." Coco thinks for a second then smiles and nods in agreement. Just then my stomach lets out another loud rumble, reminding me what I was doing a moment ago. The girls hear this and smile. "Little hungry there, Grun?" I laugh and say, "I haven't eaten since this morning. I was going to get something between classes but I had to talk to Yang and Cardin so I didn't have a chance."

Coco leers at me and says, "Does this talk with Yang explain why she was walking a little bowlegged into the cafeteria a minute ago?" I smile wolfishly and say, "Who knows? You two want to join me for some dinner?" They both smile and nod, following me to the cafeteria. As I'm enjoying my dinner, I feel some arms wrap around my neck and feel a familiar cleavage settle against my head.

Yang purrs into my ear, "Hello there my love. I'm really glad you set me straight after class today. But I think I might need a few more extra lessons, I don't think I've quite learned my lesson yet." I smile and lean back against her, saying, "Once we get home. Maybe Coco and Velvet would be willing to help with our lesson?" I look to the two, raising an eyebrow at them. They both smile and nod, a hunger entering their eyes. I grab Yang and pull her down into my lap, gently kissing her and wrapping my arms around her. She returns the kiss with passion.

Before I can continue the kiss, I feel an invisible force take hold of me. It picks me up and throws me into a nearby wall, hanging upside down. I look to see a very upset Glenda walking towards me, pointing her crop at me. "Professor Grun!" She yells. "What have told you about messing around with Miss Xiao Long in school?!" I smile at her upside down and say, "I can't quite remember. My mind was a little preoccupied, what with me making out with my wife and all."

Glenda's face grows darker as she twists her crop in her hands, causing the pressure pushing me into the wall increase, pushing me farther in. I yelp and say, "OK, OK! I'm sorry! This is getting really uncomfortable here." She frowns more but she lets me go. As I fall I flip so that I land on my feet, dusting myself off as I straighten up. I smile at her again and say, "That seemed a little uncalled for."

Glenda glares at me, swinging her crop at my head. I duck under it easily and stand back up, smiling as I do. "Now is this any way to behave in front of our students? What kind of lesson are you teaching them right now?" She growls and swings at me again, faster this time and catching my arm with her crop. It stings a little, but nothing too serious.

"If this happens again," she growls, "I'm leaving you stuck to the wall. Understood?" I smile and nod, knowing that it was probably going to happen again. I was chuckling to myself as I went back to my table and finished dinner. After I was done eating, Yang Coco Velvet and I got into my jeep and headed back to our house. Yang and I lived there with our kids, but Coco and Velvet would come and stay with us from time to time. Ruby and Weiss had their own room at the house, as well as team JNPR. It had been a couple of months since this started, but I've grown accustomed to it. I always lived with a big family with the Arks, so it didn't really bother me. I enjoyed it when the house got loud and rowdy.

When I pulled into the drive way I saw Pyrrha's sedan as well as Weiss's coupe. I pulled into the garage, closing the door and killing the engine. Before I have a chance to get out of the jeep, Coco and Velvet grabbed me and pulled me into the back seat. They had folded the seats down to make the cargo area bigger, allowing all of us our "time together." Yang cracked the windows before climbing back there with us.

The three girls were laying on me, Coco and Velvet making out while rubbing against me, Yang kissing me fiercely while she tried to snake her hand down my pants. I was doing everything I could to touch all three of them at the same time, wanting to feel as much hot skin as I could. Velvet had her shirt and bra pulled off and was leaning to put one of her breasts into my mouth. I started to lick and suck on her stiff nipple while Coco grabbed one of my free hands and stuck it in her pants. I started rubbing her gently, relishing the sensation of her soft and sensitive flesh warming to my touch.

Yang was feeling a little left out, so I reached my other hand over and start rubbing her nether regions as well. Yang had slipped her panties off during the ride home, so there was nothing under her skirt to keep me from my prize. She moaned loudly as I slipped a finger into her, rubbing her nub with my thumb. She grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling it towards her so that my finger went farther into her.

Velvet was the first one completely naked. When she shimmied out of her panties, she hovered over my now exposed and hard member, slowly lowering herself onto it. The cramped cargo area didn't allow her to lift herself up and down like she wanted, so she laid down on top of me, grinding herself up and down my chest, making me slip in and out of her. Coco was the next one naked. She grabbed my clothes and slowly worked them off of me so I was naked as well. She then kneeled over my face, bringing herself down onto my mouth.

I started kissing and licking her womanhood, worshipping it with my lips and tongue. She moaned loudly and leaned forward, pressing her breasts into the back of Velvet, both of them rubbing against me and each other. Yang moved down to kneel behind Velvet, licking both my shaft and Velvet's sex as Velvet kept sliding my hardness in and out of herself.

Both the sensations proved too much for Velvet, as I could feel her tightening against me as she released herself on me, soaking my lap and Yang's mouth. She fell off to the side, slipping off my manhood. Coco saw her opportunity and moved forward, slipping me into her and leaning back against me, grabbing my hands and placing them on her breasts. As I began massaging and playing with her soft breasts, gently twisting her nipples every now and then, Yang went to work on Coco's heat, licking up and down her slit. She also sucked on her clit gently, making Coco moan loudly in pleasure.

After a short time, Coco finished as well, soaking me and Yang for a second time. When she fell to the other side, Yang climbed on top of me to take her turn. She began riding me for as I was worth, bouncing as hard as the cramped area allowed. Velvet and Coco both sat up and started suckling on Yang's breasts, knowing how sensitive her breasts were. Yang nearly screamed in pleasure, tightening against me. I was nearing the end as well and started pushing up into her harder, needing the release I was so close to.

Yang and I came together, her squirting down onto me as I shot up into her, filling her womanhood with my hot seed. She fell forward and lay on top of me, panting heavily. Velvet and Coco snuggled up against my sides. I wrapped my arms around them and held them close, glowing from the waves of pleasure we all felt.

We laid there for twenty minutes, resting and catching our breaths. Finally, Yang slipped off of me and started getting dressed. The other two and myself started getting dressed as well. We all got out of the jeep, though I was the only one who was steady on their feet. When we walked into the house from the garage, I could hear the kids playing. When we walked into the living room, I saw that Emma and Erin were playing with Ruby and Nora. They were all playing video game on the big screen T.V.

I look and see Jaune and Ren in the kitchen, making snacks for everyone. Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss were sitting in recliners, watching the game unfold. I smile as I take this in, loving having my family all together. And that's what everybody was to me; my family. "Hey guys," I hear Jaune say from the kitchen. "Welcome home." The kids both look back at me and smile happily, before Emma says, "Daddy! Auntie Ruby and Auntie Nora are cheating!" I smile at her and quirk and eyebrow, asking "How can she possibly be cheating at 'Cogs of Battle'? Don't you just fight monsters?"

Emma pouts and says, "Yes, but we have the scores turned on and Erin and I can't catch up to them!" Erin is nodding with her, not as vocal in his protests. I shake my head and laugh again, telling her, "That just means you have to keep trying, my dear. They have a little more practice at the game then you do." Emma and Erin are both pouting, but they turn back around and go back to their game, returning to the battle with vigor.

I walk to the fridge and grab a beer, opening it and taking a swig, savoring the flavor of it before swallowing it. The girls walk up to me, looking at me hopefully. I sigh and roll my eyes, grabbing and opening each of them a beer. All of them take a swig and smile, knowing that they have me wrapped around their fingers…for the most part anyway. I sit down on the arms of the couch and watch the kids play. Yang wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my shoulder. Coco and Velvet share one of the large recliners, snuggling together and watching as well.

The kids had just defeated a rather large horde of creatures when I hear the doorbell ring. I get up and go to answer the door, wondering who was calling at this hour. I open the door and see a smiling Sun and a nervous Cardin. I calmly set my beer down on a nearby counter before I grab Sun by the shirt front, spinning with him and slamming him against the wall in the hallway.

I get up in his face and growl, "The fuck do you want, you sick bastard? You really have some balls showing up here after you sent me that picture." Everybody who wasn't playing the game came running to see what the commotion was about. Sun just smiles and says, "Ease up Grun, it was just a joke. No need to get bent out of shape over it." I growl at him again and say, "You have a very fucked up sense of humor, my friend. You ever do something like that again and I'll cut it off and feed it to you." I shake my head and let go of him, sighing and saying "Of course you would probably enjoy it, you bastard." Sun just smiles and shrugs.

I shake my head and look at Cardin, who was blushing and looking at the ground. "Did you know he was going to do that?" I ask him. He snaps up and blushes harder. "NO!" He swears, "If I'd known he was going to send that to you I never would have agreed to it!" I shake my head and mutter, "You do a guy a favor…." I sigh again and say, "Well come on in Cardin. No need for you to stay outside." He nods and steps inside, though I can tell he's uncomfortable.

Team JNPR and the rest of RWBY look at me, confused. Jaune asks, "Brother, what the hell was that about? And why is Cardin here with Sun?" I groan loudly, knowing that they won't let it drop, so I say, "Long story short, Sun and Cardin are dating now. After I sent Cardin to see Sun, they started dating because Cardin fell for Sun after he saved him. Then Asshole here," nodding to Sun, "Decided it would be funny to send me some pictures." Coco interrupts with, "Those two you showed us? They hardly seemed like something to get upset over."

I shake my head and say, "You didn't see the third one Sun sent." Seeing that they were about to ask I say, "I deleted it. I didn't want that on my scroll. And trust me; you don't want to know what it was." Sun says, "Aww, you deleted it? Oh well, I have a copy on my scroll too." He pulls his scroll out and before I can stop him he shows the group what it was. Each of them react in different and unique ways. Pyrrha Jaune and Ren look away as quickly as they can. Coco and Velvet both blush profusely and run into the living room. Yang turns away and hides behind me, not wanting to see it again. Blake and Weiss are both staring at the picture, blushing but not looking away from it.

I smack Sun in the back of the head and say, "Put it away, you sick son of bitch. I don't want my kids seeing that." Sun smiles, unashamed, and puts his scroll away. We all head back into the living room, sitting down together and chatting with each other.

"So you and Sun are dating now, Cardin?" Ruby asks him. He nods and says, "Yeah Grun introduced us after I told him about Sun saving me." Ruby smiles and says, "Good for you." Cardin blushes but smiles at her. Ruby then moves to the game console, switching out the war game for a karaoke one. She smiles as she hands me the microphone, wanting me to sing first. I refuse at first, but Yang looks at me with her big lilac eyes, wanting to hear me sing too. I sigh and relent, taking the microphone and start going through the songs, picking "Wrong side of Heaven" by Five Finger Death Punch. It was one of my favorites.

As the guitar starts, I stand up and get ready. As the words started rolling, I sang along.

"_I spoke to god today, and she said that she's ashamed. What have I become, what have I done?_

_I spoke to the devil today, and he swears he's not to blame. And I understood, cuz I feel the same._

_Arms wide open, I stand alone! I'm no hero! And I'm not made of stone! Right or wrong, I can hardly tell!_

_I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side of hell! I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side, righteous side of hell!_

_I heard from god today, and she sounded just like me. What have I done? And who have I become?_

_I saw the Devil today, and he looked a lot like me. I looked away. I turned away!_

_Arms wide open! I stand alone! I'm no hero! And I'm not made of stone! Right or wrong, I can hardly tell!_

_I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side of hell! I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side, the righteous side of hell!_

_I'm not defending, Downward descending! Falling further and further away! I'm closer EVERYDAY!_

_I'm getting closer every day, to the end. The end, the end, the end, I'm getting CLOSER EVERYDAY!_

_Arms wide open! I stand alone! I'm no hero! And I'm not made of stone! Right or wrong, I can hardly tell!_

_I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side of hell! I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side of hell! I'm on the wrong side of heaven, and the righteous side, the righteous side of hell!"_

The song ends and I sit down. Everyone is sitting and staring at me, not believing what they just heard. Suddenly everybody started applauding and cheering, surprised that I could sing like that. I smile and hand the mike to Jaune, who looks embarrassed but picks a song. While he starts singing, Yang moves over and snuggles up against me, saying "I had no idea you could sing like that!" She leans up and kisses me. I kiss her back before I say, "I don't like showing off." She smiles and snuggles up against me tighter.

Comfortable against my wife, I start to drift off while Jaune is singing a song about heroes going off into battle for the women they loved. I startle myself awake sometime later. I look around to see that Yang is asleep against me and we're covered with a blanket. Emma and Erin are cuddled up against both my and Yang's sides, covered with the blanket too. Coco and Velvet are snuggled together asleep in a recliner. Ruby and Weiss are leaning against each other in a different recliner, while Nora was asleep in Ren's lap, who was leaning back against the side of a recliner. Pyrrha was sitting in Jaune's lap, leaning back against the couch. Blake was curled up in a recliner all by herself, snoring lightly.

I hear a noise behind me and turn around. I see Sun and Cardin making out in my kitchen. I slowly detagle myself from Yang and the kids, before slowly walking into the kitchen. They don't notice I'm there until I reach up and slap them both in the back of the heads. Cardin is surprised and embarrassed, but Sun just pouts and asks, "Why'd you interrupt us?" I glare at him and growl, "Because you're in my Dust damned kitchen! I make food in here! If you're going to do that, go home Sun!" Sun sighs but he takes Cardin's hand and leads him to the door. Both of them shoot a quiet "Bye" back to me before exiting and shutting the door behind them.

I shake my head and sigh heavily. "I'm starting to regret hooking those two up." I hear a quiet voice say, "But they are so cute together." I look over and see Yang looking at me, a smile on her face. "Maybe," I concede, "But you aren't the one who does the cleaning and cooking in here." She gently laughs and stands up, holding Emma in her arms. I walk over and pick up Erin, both of us carrying the twins up to their room. When we lay them down, they shift over and hold hands from their beds. Yang and I both smile and walk outside their room.

When we get back downstairs we see everyone is still asleep. I look at Yang and ask, "Should we wake them up?" Yang shakes her head and says, "Let's just let them rest. It's the weekend tomorrow, so they don't need to be up early." I smile and nod, then say, "Let's head to bed ourselves. I'm worn out." Yang nods and takes my hand, leading us to our room. When we get under the covers we cuddle together. Yang falls asleep immediately, but I've never been able to fall asleep on command. I lay there a bit, watching her sleep. I smile and think, "How did I get so lucky? I have an amazing life and I hope it never changes." I finally start to drift off, happy with where I am.

_**Across town in an abandoned warehouse**_

A beautiful woman with long black hair was addressing two youths. "It's been half a year since the White Fang fell. We need to reassess our assets and figure out where we go from here." The girl, who was dark of skin with green hair nods and says, "Well, we know who decimated the White Fang. It was teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY from Beacon. We've been watching them while we posed as students." The older woman nods and asks, "And the man who led them?" The boy answers this time, running his hand through his wild silver hair.

"His name is Grun Xiao Long. It seems that he's a teacher at beacon and, believe it or not, married to one of the members of RWBY. Lucky bastard." He's looking at a file that had a picture of Yang hanging off of Grun. "He got himself one hot wife there." He feels a hand slap him in the back of the head. He winces and looks down at who slapped him. It was a cute short girl with hair that was pink and brown. "What? She is." She only looks annoyed and shakes her head, leaning on her umbrella.

"You deserved that." The older woman says. "Now, what are we going to do?" The green haired girl says, "We could try to get close to them, see what their weaknesses are." The older woman nods and says, "Good. You have three weeks to figure out how we can get rid of them. Dismissed."

The four of them part ways, the green haired girl and silver haired boy heading off towards Beacon, while the older woman and the short girl head into the red light district, entering their hideout in a brothel. "We will destroy them, Neo, for ruining our plans." The girl nods and lays down to go to sleep.

-End of Chapter 12.


End file.
